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Tajikistan has plans to build 18 new highway bridges in its Gorno-Badakhshan region. This forms part of its strategy, ‘Strengthening of Critical Infrastructure for Protection from Natural Hazards’. Funding worth US$50 million for the programme is being provided by the International Development Association. The timeline calls for the bridge construction work to be complete by 2023.

Children are at serious risk on Europe’s road network. This is the finding of a new report from the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). According to the ETSC’s analysis of crash data, more than 8,000 children aged 0-14 years have been killed in road traffic collisions over the last 10 years in the European Union. Half of the children killed were travelling in cars, a third were walking and 13% were cycling, with one in every 13 child deaths in the European Union being the result of a road collision.

The Central Expressway project in Sri Lanka is receiving funding from Japan, with a package worth US$940.7 million from the Tokyo Mitsubishi Bank of Japan. The contract meanwhile has been awarded to Japanese construction firm M/S Taisei Corporation. The firm will build a 32.5km section of the Central Expressway running from Pothuhera to Ramukkana and then to Galagedera.

Nigeria’s dangerous roads remain a cause for concern. In the three month period to December 2017, there were 2,489 reported road crashes in Nigeria. These crashes accounted for 1,306 deaths and 7,349 injuries, according to data collated by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Of those killed, 106 were children and 1,200 were adults. Excessive speed was cited as a primary cause of 45.1% of the crashes. Other major factors in crashes were loss of control and dangerous driving. No estimates for the

The project to build the new highway link from Kenya’s capital Nairobi to the city’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) is now expected to cost US$579 million. This represents an increase of around $206 million from the pricetag originally expected for the link. This cost increase comes despite a substantial change in the design, with the route now featuring a series of flyover sections and underpasses, instead of being elevated along its 43.5km length as originally proposed. This redesign will

Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development has said that the Kerch Bridge now looks likely to open to traffic in December 2018. In addition to the bridge, the highway connections should also be complete within the same timeline. The Kerch Strait bridge crossing is of key importance to the area and will help reduce journey times for drivers, as well as reducing transport costs considerably. Construction has not been without its challenges due in part to the fierce winter conditions. This is not the first

Projects to improve historic tunnel and bridge links are now progressing in Germany after some delays. These are for the refurbishment of the old Elbe Tunnel in Hamburg and a bridge upgrade in Cologne. Stretching some 426m, the Old Elbe Tunnel runs from the St Pauli area on the north of the River Elbe to the port area in the south. Opened in 1911 the twin tube tunnel is of historic value, even though its importance for vehicle traffic is now comparatively minor following the opening of a new road tunnel in

A consortium of Colombian construction companies, Concesionaria Desarrollo Vial al Mar (Devimar), is to build the new in Autopista al Mar 1 highway. This 176km link is expected to cost US$790.5 million to build, connecting Medellin with Santa Fe de Antioquia. The new highway will cut journey times on the route by 20-30 minutes, boosting transport for the region. The project is complex and involves the construction of no less than 39 bridges, of which 26 will be situated between the 4.6km Tunel de

The East-West highway connection project in Auckland is proving controversial. Several community groups are lodging appeals against the US$1.37 billion (NZ$1.85 billion) project, despite it having been approved recently by the New Zealand: Government. The groups appealing against the highway link project now include Jackson Electrical, Mercury Energy, the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, iwi Ngati Whatua and The Onehunga Enhancement Society (TOES).