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Drivers could pay as little as US$1 to use Seattle’s 2.7km Alaskan Way tunnel when it opens, likely by the end of the year. The Washington State Department of Transportation, owner of the tunnel, are considering several rates depending on time of day and day of week, according to local media. The DoT said funding for the $3.2 billion viaduct replacement programme comes from state, federal and local sources as well as the Port of Seattle and tolls on drivers using the tunnel. The money will fund tunnel

Drivers could pay as little as US$1 to use Seattle’s 2.7km Alaskan Way tunnel when it opens, likely by the end of the year. The Washington State Department of Transportation, owner of the tunnel, are considering several rates depending on time of day and day of week, according to local media. The DoT said funding for the $3.2 billion viaduct replacement programme comes from state, federal and local sources as well as the Port of Seattle and tolls on drivers using the tunnel. The money will fund tunnel

Slovakia said it will tender this year for the 14km R2 expressway linking Roznava and Jablonov nad Turnov with completion likely in 2024. Slovakia's transport minister Arpad Ersek said construction could start by Q3 2019. R2 is a 360km route that will run from Kosice in the east across the country to Trenčín, near the Czech border in the west. It will pass through Bánovce nad Bebravou, Prievidza and Lučenec. Roznava is an economic and tourist centre around 70km from Kosice.

The Government of Romania will build three motorway segments through a public-private partnership. The motorway segments in question are the 109km long Ungheni-Iasi-Targu Neamt segment, which will have a bridge built over the river Prut, the 100km long Rasnov-Brasov-Ploiesti motorway section, and the 550km long motorway segment between Alexandria and Lugoj.

Chinese automobile manufacturer BYD is supplying an order for 500 all-electric dump trucks from customers in China’s Shenzen area. The T10ZT models are said to be able to travel 280km on a single charge and feature 10.6m3 capacity dump bodies. The machines can be fully-charged in just 90 minutes and the deal also includes supplying both fixed and mobile fast-charging systems for both customers.

A new bridge is to be constructed in Russia that will span the Chusovaya River. The project is expected to cost in excess of US$241 million to carry out. The bridge will measure in excess of 9km-long. The cost of the project will be split between the Russian Federal Government, the Regional Government and the concession firm awarded the deal. The project will be carried out by the Perm Concession Company. The package of works includes rebuilding access roads. The concession package was awarded by the Federa

Two major highway projects are now moving ahead in Texas. One project is for the Grand Parkway around Houston, the other is for the construction of three bridges at an interchange on US 290. Grand Parkway Infrastructure is to construct a stretch of the Highway 99 Grand Parkway, which will run around Houston. In all the project for the 295km gyratory highway is costing US$1.28 billion. The package of works was awarded by the Texas Department of Transportation and involves building extra toll lanes as well a

Over the next few weeks, Denmark is hosting a world-premiere in the field of green infrastructure. A busy section of the motorway exiting the greater area of Copenhagen northbound towards Elsinore has been chosen is being used for the trials. This is the first of several roads on the Danish state road network to receive a special climate-friendly asphalt, as part of the development of pavements that reduce emissions from road traffic. This type of asphalt has been developed over the last decade and is the

Miami-based firm IBT has completed its construction work on a highway link in Bolivia’s Chaco Region. The project cost US$84 million to carry out and is of importance to Bolivia, as it will improve transport connections and improve trade and tourism in the area. The improved route will also make a major boost to safety as the original road had the reputation of being one of the 10 most dangerous mountain roads anywhere in the world. The 61km highway project included moving 5.4 million m3 of earth before the

SwedenSwedish contractor Svevia has been commissioned by the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) to handle cable replacements on the Tjörnbron Bridge. Replacement is expected to start in 2019 for completion by 2025. Svevia project manager Johan Söderberg said the work will be complicated, not least because traffic must continue to us the bridge. He reportedly said that much of the work will have to take place at night, in the summer and in good weather. The 664m-long cable stayed Tjörn Bridge,

France has increased its annual national-road modernisation fund by 25% to €1 billion for starting next year. French Transport Minister Élisabeth Borne made the announcement, pointing out that the country’s roads in the worst condition will get priority. Also, starting in 2022, roads will be reviewed every five years under a new scoring system to determine which are in most need of repairs and modernisation. Borne noted that she wanted to speed up improvement works on routes serving mid-sized cities.

The UK’s National Infrastructure Commission has shortlisted five companies including Aecom and Arup in a competition for ideas to make roads fit for driverless cars. The five companies were chosen from 81 entries submitted to the Roads for the Future initiative led by the roads authority Highways England and Innovate UK, a government agency that encourages research and innovation in many sectors. Aecom is examining how smart traffic signals could advise drivers as to a speed they should be driving if they

A bridge on the San River near Jarosław will be the first of 22 to be constructed under the Polish government’s Bridges for Regions programme. Central government will fund around 80% or the programme that is expected to cost about €534 million, said Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister. The rest will be contributed by local governments, with some of the money coming from a local roads fund to be set up in the autumn. The fund will also provide financing for the modernisation of existing bridge crossings,

The Czech division of Eurovia has won a €126 million contract for a section of the D35 motorway. The Czech road and motorway management company RSD sealed the deal Eurovia, part of the Vinci Group, for construction of 14.7km between Casy and Ostrov, in the Pardubice region. Eurovia submitted a bid of nearly €126 million for the work that the government and the European Union had estimated in 2016 might cost around €194 million. Other bids had been submitted by M-Silnice and Astaldi. Eurovia recently an

Plans for the expansion of Indonesia’s toll road network are looking behind schedule at this point. The country’s road expansion programme has a target of 1,852km of new toll roads to be complete by 2019 when the current administration ends its term in office. However only 870km of the planned toll roads have so far been completed. The new toll roads are expected to help develop the country’s economy and also to cut transport costs. Plans are also in hand to develop 2,650km of roads that will not be tolled