In July, the Colorado Dept. of Transportation started one of its largest stimulus-funded transportation projects with the multimodal rehabilitation of nine miles of the C-470 highway between Interstate 25 and Santa Fe Drive, south of Denver, and an adjacent bike path. Denver, Colo. Photo: CDOT ARRA funds are used to repave nine miles of Denver-area highway and 26 miles of bike paths with concrete and asphalt. Photo: CDOT Related Links: Stimulus: A Snapshot of Top Shovel-, Wrench- and Pencil-Ready Projects The $22.3-million project, entirely funded with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars, will repair or replace highway concrete base slabs
Glenville elementary school in Greenwich, Conn., had been living for almost 30 years with a noisy open-plan design and a lack of natural light and fresh air, problems that put it high on the school board’s list for renovation. Greenwich, Conn. Photo: Turner Construction Elementary school solar plan was brought back to life with energy retrofit funds from ARA. Photo: Courtesy of Solyndra Cylindrical shape of solar array allows light from any direction to be captured and converted. Related Links: Stimulus: A Snapshot of Top Shovel-, Wrench- and Pencil-Ready Projects Planners also hoped to demonstrate energy conservation and efficiency by
The recession has cut U.K. civil engineers’ salaries for the first time in seven years, according to a new survey by the Institution of Civil Engineers, London. Last year’s basic average income fell 0.3%, to $75,000. Lower salaries did the worst, with the bottom 10% falling 6%, while the top 10% rose 1.2%. Top executive basic pay fell 1.7%, to $131,000 on average. Compared with the U.K., average basic salaries were higher by 18% in Hong Kong and by 31% in the Emirates.
Remediation work on lead-contaminated properties in Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene Basin has increased by nearly 50% this year because of $20 million in stimulus funds awarded to the Idaho Dept. of Environmental Quality, says Dan Meyer, IDEQ remediation program manager. Kellogg, Idaho Photo: North Wind Inc. North Wind crews grout concrete pile caps at the repository site in Idaho. Related Links: Stimulus: A Snapshot of Top Shovel-, Wrench- and Pencil-Ready Projects The money, which is being spread over a three-year period, has allowed the agency since August to accelerate yard remediation and materials handling for thousands of residential and commercial properties
Work is under way at a $15.4-million, stimulus funded Johnson County, Kan., wastewater treatment plant upgrade that is expected to cut greenhouse- gas emissions by 9,700 metric tons annually. While officials involved with the project say the process for obtaining the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARA) funding has gone smoothly, they add that the law’s Davis-Bacon requirement could inflate the cost of the project significantly. Overland Park, Kan. Photo: CH2M Hill Crews build anaerobic digesters as part of waste-to-energy upgrade at a Kansas treatment plant. Related Links: Stimulus: A Snapshot of Top Shovel-, Wrench- and Pencil-Ready Projects The project
Three contracts funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are helping speed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ rehabilitation of the Markland Lock, near Warsaw, Ky., on the Ohio River. The contracts come after a catastrophic malfunction put the lock’s downstream gates out of commission. Warsaw, Ky. Photo: USACE Workers rig a crippled gate in the Ohio river’s Markland Lock for removal. A mishap on Sept. 27 put the gate, scheduled for replacement in 2011, out of commission. Stimulus funding is helping the Corps push recovery by letting more parts of the lock rehabilitation program go off at once.
In November, installation will begin on the new barrier wall of the Wolf Creek Dam, which the National Dam Safety Program in 2005 gave the highest risk rating for failure. Wolf Creek, Ky. Photo: Angelle Bergeron/ENR Draw down of reservoir allows crews to build protective concrete embankment wall for Wolf Creek Dam. Related Links: Stimulus: A Snapshot of Top Shovel-, Wrench- and Pencil-Ready Projects The $584-million U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wolf Creek Dam Remediation project in Jamestown, Ky., on the Cumberland River would have come to a screeching halt in July when $54.5 million in fiscal year 2009 funds
Through the first eight months of this year, construction starts totaled $274.8 billion, down 33% from 2008, according to McGraw-Hill Construction, of which ENR is a unit. However, on a seasonally adjusted annual basis, starts in August were up 2% over July, as the public-works sector started to see “early signs of support from federal stimulus funding,” says Robert Murray, MHC senior vice president and chief economist. The non-residential building market has eased from severe declines in late 2008 and early 2009, he says. But that market “still faces considerable constraints, such as mounting vacancies, tight bank lending standards and
Some economist have dubbed the current economic troubles “The Great Recession” to differentiate it from the Great Depression of the 1930s. While there are significant differences between the two economic calamities, there is one striking similarity: a sharp and prolonged decline in construction costs. Source: Turner Construction. Year-to-year percent changes for selling price of construction. Turner’s cost index Source: BLS. Forecast by IHS Global Insight Blip in Lumber Prices Source: IHS Global Insight Housing starts firm Related Links: Industry Has Little Confidence About Near-Term Market Gains Medical Costs Trump Savings From Safety Recession Steadies Prices For Liquid Paving Product Airport
The House has taken another stab at steering federal funds to school construction. The chamber on Sept. 17 approved a measure that would authorize more than $6.5 billion for public-school and community-college projects. The provision is part of a bill that would expand the federal college-loan program and curtail private lending in that sector. The focus now moves to the Senate, where the fate of the construction proposal is uncertain. The measure would authorize $2.02 billion annually for fiscal 2010 and 2011 to modernize, renovate or repair K-12 public schools. Another $2.5 billion would be available for new construction or
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