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West Bengal is to receive a US$748.08million grant from the Indian Government for two major road projects. Announcing the key grant, Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said one project would see the building of a new 4,000km road, while the other will see the conversion of 5,733km of existing murram-surfaced highway to asphalt surfaced highway.

An innovative solution was put forward to support slip roads on a Dutch motorway. Patrick Smith reports. The 2010 opening of the A7 motorway extension on the southern ring road of the city of Sneek, The Netherlands, brings an end to local traffic misery. By using innovative Tensar Geocell Foundation Mattress technology over weak estuarine clay, MNO-Vervat Noord, the main contractor, constructed a key junction and its slip roads in weeks instead of months, with considerable cost savings.

Automotive manufacturer Ford is developing an electric bike prototype called the E-Bike. The firm is working on the concept as it believes that E-bikes may well sell in higher numbers than electric cars over the next decade. The frame is built from carbon fibre and aluminium, while sophisticated magnetostrictive sensors regulate precisely how the electric motor in the front wheel-hub, engages and assists the rider.

Illegal motorway car racers in Thailand are to be targeted with additional radio frequency identification (RFID) systems and surveillance cameras. The move comes after Thai authorities have been tackling high-speed motorcycle racing involving youth gangs, mainly from low-income households. Meanwhile, a new seatbelt law for children is set to be introduced in a bid to reduce the country’s number of child accident deaths. It will make it compulsory for children aged below 15 to use a seatbelt when a passenger

Greek general construction companies Terna and AEGEK Kataskevastiki have signed a deal to develop part of the Egnatia Odos highway.The budget for the works is reported to be US$ 113.90million, plus VAT of $26,111,500. The second part of the two-part highway development project is budgeted at $23,046,800, plus VAT of $5,300,750

The Ecuadorian Ministry for Transport and Public Works is to spend around US$ 5billion turning the country’s 1,286km of roads into ‘super-highways’. The staggered investment over the next two years is set to boost Ecuador’s tourism, farming and agricultural industries. A first stage will see the firm Consultora de Ingenieria, Estudios y Perforaciones de Suelos (Cieper) undertaking definitive traffic studies, as well as engineering and environmental impact studies for the Santo Domingo-Quevedo road, located

Construction work on the longest bridge in Malaysia and South-East Asia is well underway. Malaysia and South-East Asia is well underway. When completed, the cable-stayed bridge will have a two-lane carriageway and a motorcycle lane in each direction, and will connect Batu Kawan on the mainland to Seberang Perai and Batu Maung on Penang Island. The main span will be 250m long with a length over water of 17km and a 30m height above the water. Costing an estimated US$1.5 billion the 24km long bridge is being b

The CEA (Construction Equipment Association) is to highlight the importance of the construction sector to the UK economy in an Industry Showcase at the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) HQ in London. The showcase from 14-25 May, 2012, will also promote the forthcoming PLANTWORX construction machinery exhibition. Minister of State for Business and Enterprise, Mark Prisk MP, will be attending the showcase on Wednesday May 16th from 11am – 12noon to talk to participating companies. The Constr

Russian operator company NCC (Nevskaya Concession Company) has placed an order with German manufacturer Herrenknecht for the world's largest tunnel boring machine (TBM). The Mixshield TBM, for construction of the Orlovski Tunnel, "will surpass all previous TBMs" with a diameter of 19.25m and it is designed to construct a mega-tunnel to link both halves of the centre of Russia's second city St Petersburg under the River Neva and speed up traffic.

Praslin, the second-largest of the Seychelles Islands with roughly 6,500 inhabitants, is a tropical paradise of white sandy beaches, dense jungle and crystal clear seas. Tourism is the island's main source of income, and luxury tourism at that. A road had to be diverted for a new five-star hotel and property development project which will create jobs for around 400 people. The road would have obstructed the residents' access to the sea. Sey-Afrique Exporters from Pinetown, South Africa, won the contra

The Chinese province of Qinghai will this year see US$237.83million spent on 300 new bridges and 2,000km of new rural roads in farm and pastoral areas. In 2011, a total of $289.49million was spent on creating 306 new bridges and 1,767km of rural roads in Qinghai. The sum also paid for the upgrade of 5,901km of rural roads.

Bulgarian Regional Development Minister, Lilyana Pavlova, has revealed plans to create a Ruse-Veliko Tarnovo-Svilengrad-Istanbul toll road under a public-private partnership (PPP) programme. Investors from Oman, Qatar and China are expected to take part in the PPP, said Pavlova. The 300km route would enable a faster connection between the Danube Bridge and the Bosphorus through the pan-European transport corridor 9.

Roads Minister Mike Penning yesterday gave the green light for development work to be carried out on six new major UK road schemes. The development work, which will take place over the next three years, aims to prime the road schemes for completion in the early years of the next spending review period (post 2015). The six proposed road schemes, which aim to boost economic growth as part of the Government’s National Infrastructure Plan, are:

Part of an extensive motorway network measuring some 185km, the ongoing Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GIFP) is creating a modern, world-class toll route system that provides major impetus to socio-economic growth in South Africa's most populous and commercially active region.

The new Hyderabad Outer Ring Road (ORR) project is a 158km eight-lane highway encircling the Andhra Pradesh city. It has been designed to relieve congestion in and around the city and to act as a hub for accessing India's national highway network, and is being built for the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority. Indian contractor Ramky Infrastructure is relying on an Atlas Copco MB 1700 hydraulic breaker to break granite as aggregates at a quarry site adjacent to the new road. The rock is bein

China has opened the world's longest bridge over water, the 41.58km Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, which is said to have cost well over US$2 billion to build. It links the eastern port city of Qingdao to Huangdao Island across Jiaozhou Bay and is 4km longer than the previous longest bridge over water, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, USA. Opened in June, 2011 after four years of construction, the link is expected to carry some 30,000 vehicle/day and will reduce travel time by 30 minutes, although it is o

Shem Oirere reports on plans for a major highway to Rwanda to other parts of Africa Construction of a 78km highway stretch that links Rwanda to the rest of Eastern Africa will start in May. State Minister in Charge of Transport Dr Alex. Nzahabwanimana said the contract for the US$54 million project has already been awarded to German construction company Strabag International.

Winter weather often brings traffic chaos, and authorities have to be ready to tackle it as Patrick Smith reports. Good winter maintenance is rarely noticed, and it is only when things go wrong that it becomes a public issue. "When sudden bouts of cold weather bring traffic chaos, icy roads receive high-profile coverage and local authorities are criticised, often unfairly, for not affording greater protection," says the Highways Term Maintenance Association (HTMA), the UK's top trade body for road mainten

The South Interoceanic Road is a path of integration and development: it is also a GRAA 2011 Winning Project . On 24 January, 2012 the International Road Federation formally presented a Global Road Achievement Award (GRAA) in. the Programme Management category to Concesionaria Interoceánica Sur Tramos 2 y 3, S.A. for its leadership in the provision of integrated services as part of a large-scale transportation infrastructure programme. IIRSA Sur Concessionaire - Stretches 2 & 3, builds, provides maintenanc

A new range of equipment from SHANBAO has helped to increase limestone production to meet Henan Province's aggregates demand. SHANBAO has supplied a full range of equipment to two companies in a growth region of China.The Chinese-based manufacturer of stationary crushing and screening equipment supplied the equipment to Yongsheng Aggregates and Yongye Trading. The crushing, screening and feeding equipment is being used to process limestone that supplies 10% of the aggregate requirements in the Henan region'