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A new tolled bridge link is planned for Indonesia’s East Kalimantan. The tender process is opening for the North Penajam Paser-Balikpapan toll bridge project. Building the bridge is expected to cost in the order of US$1.02 billion. The structure and the road connections needed will be around 7.35km long. Building the bridge will cut journey times between Balikpapan and North Panajam from as much as 120 minutes at present to just 10 minutes when the structure is complete.

A Canadian firm is taking over three highways in India from Essel Highways. The US$472.8 million deal is for the the Essel Devanahalli Tollway in Karnataka state, the Lebad-Jaora highway in Madhya Pradesh and Essel Dichpally Tollway in Telangana. The Canadian company is Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ)

A new bridge project costing nearly US$756 million has been proposed for Brazil.

A Chinese contractor is expressing interest in building a major bridge connection in Bangladesh.

A contractor is now being sought for the UK’s Stonehenge Tunnel project. The work involves building a new tunnel and new stretch of dual carriageway, moving the busy A303 route away from the Stonehenge monument.

Funding is now secured for the Budimir-Bidovce stretch of Slovakia’s D1 highway project. In addition, the funding for the Kosicke Olsany-Hrasovik stretch of the R2-R4 expressway has been secured. The EU’s Cohesion Fund will supply €173 million for the work, which is intended to cut congestion and journey times. New interchanges and noise reduction systems will be built. Also included will be the construction of 23 new bridges.

According to research, the states of Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, Louisiana and Texas offer the best safety for young drivers in the US. At the other end of the scale Wyoming has the worst record for crashes involving young drivers, followed closely by South Dakota and then Missouri. Arizona, Montana and North Dakota also have poor records for safety amongst younger drivers.

The New Zealand Government is setting out a new plan to reduce the country’s road casualty rate. This has the aim of reducing the road death rate by 560 over the next 10 years. The plan would also cut serious injuries by 5,600 over the same period. The New Zealand Government intends to implement the Vision Zero Programme. Better enforcement, new and better facilities for pedestrians and cyclists and safer vehicles are all included in the plans.

As many as 25,000 bridges in France are considered in poor condition according to research. In a bid to tackle the problem, there have been calls for an annual budget of €120 million for the next 10 years to improve bridge condition. There are an estimated 200,000-250,000 bridges in France. An additional fund of €130 million/year is proposed to tackle the problem of ageing tunnels in France.

Bosnia is investigating a series of road financing solutions. The country intends to borrow €150 million to construct the Corridor 5C highway project. A loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is expected to provide much of the financing required, however the terms have still to be finalised.