Road Structures

A new tunnel project to connect Montreal with St Lambert has been proposed by a Canadian entrepreneur. The tunnel would run under the St Lawrence Seaway and was proposed by property magnate Luc Poirier as a possible solution to traffic congestion.

Long An province in Vietnam will see US$2.77billion spent on constructing and improving its inner waterway and road infrastructure over the next eight years. The provincial peoples’ committee (PPC) revealed that the major capital project will include the construction of bridges and roads linking central areas and towns. The new roads will stretch around 400km and new dredge waterways will span 600km on the Chanh, Thu Thua, Bac Dong and Tra Cu canals by 2015. Small wharves and Long An Port will also be estab

In Taiwan Hua Chi Construction will build the planned Kinmen Bridge. This 5.4km structure will connect Lesser Kinmen with Greater Kinmen and is due for completion in 2016. Construction work will commence in May 2012. The contractor’s winning bid was for US222.2 million. The details of the project have been released by the National Expressway Engineering Bureau.

Discussions are underway in Switzerland at present over options for maintaining and upgrading the Gotthard Road Tunnel in the 2020-2025 period. One option is likely to cost some €539.65 million (CHF 650 million), requiring the tunnel to be closed for a 30 month period. The other, is likely to cost €752 million and will see the work carried out the necessary work in stages over a 42 month stretch. For this second option, the tunnel would remain open during the summer period so as to allow it to carry the hig

Israeli financing looks to be one funding option for the Northern Tunnel project planned in the Russian city of Rostov. The plan calls for a 2.5km tunnel that will be tolled and link city centre with Northern residential area and will help reduce congestion on Nagibin Avenue. This is at present the only large highway linking the city centre with the residential district and is congested at peak periods. The tunnel project is valued at US$252 million and construction work is expected to take six years. The a

Dalian city in China has set out a budget worth some US$2.3 billion for 45 key projects in 2012. The projects include the construction of 300km of rural roads and 254km of trunk roads. Two highway construction projects stretching over 55km are also included and these are Zhuanghe-Gaizhou expressway and Dalian Bay Port area expressway. Meanwhile, Bohai Avenue construction will be fully kicked off, and Changshan bridge's main section is to be completed within 2012.

Plans are in hand in Russia for a new bridge spanning the Kuban River in Krasnodar. The 300m bridge will carry four lanes of traffic when it is complete over the Kuban River. The design work for the bridge is expected to be complete in spring 2013. The new bridge will help reduce congestion as the current Yablonovsky Bridge features just two lanes. It was designed to handle 6,000 vehicles/day but is instead carrying up to 30,000 vehicles/day.