Road Structures

The go ahead has been given for a major highway project in China’s Yunnan Province. The US$3.25 billion highway will connect Shangri-La and Lijiang. The project has received approval from the National Development and Reform Commission of China. In addition, approval has also been given by the National Development and Reform Commission for the $471.8 million Zhejiang section of the highway connecting Hangzhou with Nanjing.

Work is progressing well in Turkey on the country’s landmark new bridge over the Bosporus. This will be Istanbul's third bridge, with the opening now planned for the 29th October 2015. The construction work is being carried out by the IC Ictas – Astaldi joint venture, which is handling the project under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. The project has an investment value of some US$2.5 billion. The landmark 3rd Bosporus Bridge, or Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, forms the centrepiece of the Northern Marma

Work on four new road projects in India will be carried out by Spanish contractor Isolux Corsan. In all the work is worth US$306.5 million. The 130km stretch of road connecting Talcher with Chandikole in Odisha is costing $124.9 million to construct. One stretch is for a 160km road between Phalodi and Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. The other two sections of road being built are in Assam.

The Serbian Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure has set a target for road construction during 2015. In all the country will build some 160km of new roads during 2015. At the moment the country is also building or rebuilding some 150 bridges in a bid to boost its transport connections. Work to the Nis-Dimitrovgrad road is due for completion during 2015. The cost of this ambitious target has not been revealed and nor has the source of the funding stream.

A highway widening project in Nigeria will improve the connection between the city of Minna and the capital, Abuja. The road being widened connects Suleja, which lies close to Abuja, with Minna and the work is being carried out on a 41km section of the route. The work will be carried out by Italian contractor Salini Impregilo and involves adding a second lane to the route, while the project is worth some US$127 million. The 48 month project was awarded by the Nigerian Ministry of Public Works.

Demolition work has been carried out on the central section of the Chain of Rocks Bridge in the US. The bridge lies just to the north of the city of St Louis, with the eastern end of the structure on Chouteau Island in Illinois and the western end is in Missouri. For the demolition work to be carried out I-270 had to be closed to traffic, so as to ensure the new structure would not suffer damage and also to maximise safety. The other sections of the bridge will be removed in due course.

Construction firm Al Jaber Transport & General Contracting will carry out work on two contracts worth a total of US$544.5 million in the UAE. The package of works was awarded by Abu Dhabi General Services Co. Under the terms of the deal, a subsidiary of Al Jaber Group will build two sections of the highway from Mafraq to Al Ghwaifat located near Qatar, and on the border with Saudi Arabia. The sections included the construction of highways from Al Mirfa to Abu Al Abyad, and the construction of highways and i