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A loan from the World Bank will help pay for a series of road upgrades across Nepal. The US$133 million loan will be directed towards improving 12,412km of Nepal’s road network, including both major highways and secondary link roads. Also benefiting from the loan will be many of Nepal’s bridges. Maintenance work will be carried out to 90 bridges and safety measures will be improved on 180 bridges. Construction work will be completed on 92 bridges being built at present, while a further 115 existing bridges

India has amongst the worst records for road safety of any nation in the world, a problem highlighted by data made available recently. During 2017 India saw an appalling 464,910 road crashes being reported. These crashes resulted in 470,975 injuries and 147,913 road deaths. On average India sees 1,274 road crashes/day resulting in 1,290 injuries and 405 fatalities. Tamil Nadu State has the highest number of road crashes although Uttar Pradesh has the unenviable record of having the highest number of road de

Bulgaria and Romania have the worst road casualty rates of any EU nations, with data for 2016 revealing the extent of the problem. In 2016 Bulgaria saw 999 fatalities/1,000,000 of population while Romania saw 97 road deaths/1,000,000 of population. Poland and Lithuania also scored poorly on road safety at 80 deaths/1,000,000 of population, while Hungary saw 62 road deaths/1,000,000 of population. The average across the EU nations was 50 road deaths/1,000,000 of population. Meanwhile Sweden saw the best road

Construction is still underway on new toll lanes for Interstate 77 in North Carolina. The US$647 million project is expected to improve traffic flow on the most congested stretches close to the city of Charlotte. Some new tolled stretches of the northbound section could be open before the end of 2018. However the southbound section is not expected to open until 2019.

A new highway link is planned to be built in China’s Ma'anshan city. The 19km link will improve traffic flow between the centre of the city and the Bowang District. Costing US$147 million, the new link will feature dual lanes for traffic in either direction. Construction will be carried out in three separate phases, with work on the first phase expected to commence at the end of 2018 and with tendering due for the second and third phase in due course.

Construction is commencing on a 4.4km stretch of the Southern Beltway in the US state of Pennsylvania. This forms part of a project for a 21km section of toll road, with its completion expected in 2022. The entire project is for the extension of the Southern Beltway from the Turnpike 576 terminus at US Route 22 in Robinson Township, to a new interchange with Interstate 79 at the Allegheny-Washington County line. The work is needed to boost capacity and improve transport, while cutting congestion for drivers

bauma 2019 in Munich is going to be the biggest yet with the organisers gearing up to host 3,500 exhibitors and 600,000 visitors in 18 halls and 614,000m2 of show space. Two new halls have been opened up for the 2019 show and the exhibition’s partner country will be Canada, the seventh-largest market in the world for construction machinery. Canada’s construction sector growth is expected to grow by 3% per annum each year until 2020. Organiser Messe Munchen has also chosen Canada because it is “one of the w

Progress is being seen in New Zealand for the US$456.5 million (NZ$709 million) project to construct a highway connecting Puhoi with Warkworth. The new route will feature dual lanes in either direction and should be ready for traffic towards the end of 2021. Vehicle numbers are increasing in New Zealand and by 2026, the route is expected to carry 35,000 vehicles/day. The project includes extending the Northern Motorway and linking it to the SH1 routes, which involves removing 4 million m3 of spoil.

Funding from the World Bank will help with the development of Vietnam’s North-South Expressway project. The Vietnamese Government has sourced US$214 million for the project already from its own funds. The highway will stretch 654km across the country, speeding transport and helping develop trade and tourism. Because of the project’s scale, the work is being split into 11 separate stretches and should be complete by 2025.