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Work is being planned on Melbourne's M80 ring road upgrade. This A$2.25 billion project is intended to cut congestion at peak periods, boost safety and reduce journey times for commuters and freight traffic. The project is due for completion in 2013 with some of the work already underway. The work includes an extra lane being installed on either side of the road between Sunshine Avenue and Furlong Road as well as widening of the freeway bridge over Furlong Road.

Some signs do not mean what they say! (photo courtesy of World Highways reader, Narinder Mahajan).

Concerns are being expressed in Australia that upgrades to the road system in Sydney will be delayed. The improvements to the F3 and M4 East to M2 extension are now likely to start in 2026 and the M2 to M4 East tunnel project are expected to commence in 2036.

Western Australia has set a budget of US$998.52 million (A$1.2 billion) for highway work during the next fiscal year, 2010/2011. Major projects being targeted include the Great Eastern highway, the Roa highway and the Dampier highway. Other important links being tackled will be the Alexander Drive-Reid Highway interchange and the Coalfields Highway upgrade.

Plans are now in hand to upgrade and straighten the Bruce Highway over the Cardwell Ridge in Australia. The US$102.45 million (A$115 million) project will be handled jointly by a team comprising consulting engineer, SMEC Australia and Abigroup Contractors.

The authorities in the Australian state of Victoria have carried out projects worth some US$2.75 billion (A$3.1 billion). This includes 1,250 road safety projects in all, such as improvement to an intersection between Airfield Road and Princes Highway East at Traralgon West and upgrades along Bloomfield Road from Nilma to Crossover to prevent run-off-road accidents. Upgrades are also being made to provide run-off-road treatments including guard fences, linemarking, powerpole relocation, shoulder sealing, tr

Work is now underway on India’s Rohtang tunnel project, located in Himachal Pradesh. The 9km long tunnel is expected to cost US$365.75 million and with work having just started, is due for completion before 2015. The project was first suggested back in 1983 but it has taken until now for the work to get underway. When complete the link will reduce the travel distance between the Lahaul Valley and the green Kullu Valley by 46km. The link will improve India’s transport connections to China. The 11m wide link

With increased demand from exhibitors keen to show their products at bauma China, the show organisers are making additional space available at the outdoor exhibition site. This move allows the show organisers to boost the amount of space that the Shanghai New International Expo Center (SNIEC) has for bauma China 2010 by 10,000m2.

Two new roads are now being built in Mozambique by Portuguese firm Mota Engil Engenharia. The total package is worth some US$148 million (€116 million). These two roads are the latest in a series of contracts Mota Engil Engenharia has won in Mozambique during 2010. The company is already carrying out some €165 million of work on road, bridge and other infrastructure projects.

Finnish contractor Pöyry is starting work on a road inspection programme in Northern Argentina . The firm was awarded the €1 million contract to inspect works on provincial road #28 in Argentina by the Road Infrastructure National Programme. Pöyry is carrying out this Inter-American Development Bank financed project in partnership with local company IATASA and the technical services will be provided over a 36 month period.

The Ethiopian Parliament has approved the country's largest budget. The government raised the budget for the 2010-2011 period by 20% from US$4.77 billion in 2009-2010 to $5.71 billion for the current financial year. A substantial portion will be allotted to the nine federal regions while $2.65 billion will be used for development spending, with $887.4 million for road infrastructure. The Ethiopian Government has said that some 70% of the 2010-2011 budget will be used on infrastructure development and povert

The MISTRAS Group is handling a US$3.4 million contract for continuous structural health monitoring on the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge. The client for this contract is the California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS) and MISTRAS will be responsible for installing and operating the package. The system is being installed on the bridge in response to a fatigue defect found on a structural steel beam in a regularly scheduled inspection during a holiday closure in 2009.

Plans are now in hand to tackle some of the chronic traffic congestion problems in Indian city Mumbai. Indian construction company, Reliance Infrastructure, will spend US$746.6 million building an eight-lane bridge between Worli and Haji Ali. The company entered an agreement with Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation. This new sea bridge should help address congestion issues for the roads in the south of Mumbai. The bridge is due for completion in 2014.

A loan from the Philippines-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help Sri Lanka rebuild roads damaged by its civil war. The US$154.4 million credit facility will be put toward projects such as repairing or replacing bridges and around 140km of provincial roads that were damaged in the north of Sri Lanka, where the civil war was most intense.

In India the authorities are approving a further four new highway projects. These will be worth nearly US$535 million in total. The highways are located in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Gujarat and the work involves widening and improving the existing NH34 in West Bengal as well as widening a 123km section of the link from Jetpur-Somnath in Gujarat. Both of these upgraded sections will be widened with two lanes in either direction.

A consortium in Indonesia is being established to push ahead with the US$16.7 billion Sunda Straits Bridge project. Organisational input for the consortium is coming from Indonesia's Public Work Ministry and the group will comprise private investors, state-owned companies and regional government-owned companies in Lampung and Banten provinces. The consortium will have to be established by the end of 2010 for the programme to remain on track.

India intends to continue its massive investment in highway spending. Predictions for the next five years say that up to US$100 billion will be spent on road building in the country in the coming five years. The Ministry for Road Transport and Highways plans to build 35,000km of highways, with 60% being provided by the Government budget and 40% from the private sector. The Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways will open up tendering for nine highway projects. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI

The authorities in Indonesia plan to invest heavily in infrastructure in 2010 and 2011, with road transport regarded as a high priority. The Directorate General of Highway Construction at the Public Work Ministry has set a budget of US$1.86 billion budget for 2010. According to the Public Work Ministry, 1% of the total budget for 2010 will be used to develop around 536km of roads while 11.5% of the budget will be spent on preservation of 4,400km roads

A huge highway investment programme is planned for China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region during July-December 2010. Guangxi Communications Investment will launch eight expressway projects in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. This move will bring the number of expressway projects under development in the region to a total of 22, which are worth over US$22 billion. The 22 expressways will extend some 2,300km in all, while these eight additional projects being discussed extend for 876km.

Vietnam intends to set up an electronic network that will charge vehicle drivers to enter the centre of Ho Chi Minh City. Congestion is a major problem in the city and the authorities wish to help tackle the issue and allow better traffic flow. The electronic congestion charging system will be installed on roads at Districts 10, 3 and 1 and Ho Chi Minh City will the first in Vietnam to adopt such an approach.