French firm Bouygues Construction has won a €440m contract in the US state of Florida to build a road tunnel in Miami.

The tunnel will provide the port of Miami with its second access road and connect to the interstate network and MacArthur Causeway.

The road is expected to serve as the key route for trucks, reducing traffic congestion in downtown Miami.

Major construction work includes widening a 800km section of the MacArthur’s Causeway by six meters, building two 1,100m-long and 12.3m in diameter parallel tunnels as well as providing an automatic traffic control system.

Work will begin in mid-2010 and is scheduled to finish in four and a half years.

Work will be carried out by the company subsidiary Bouygues Travaux Publics under contract with Miami Access Tunnel project management company in partnership with the Florida Department of Transportation.