In another hot competition for federal funds, the U.S. Dept. of Transportation has awarded more than 50 grants totaling over $400 million to build or upgrade bus facilities, including maintenance shops and terminals. The facilities awards are among $776 million in grants which DOT announced on Oct. 4 that are aimed at cutting into the backlog of bus transit capital needs around the country. Besides the funding for facilities, DOT also awarded dozens of grants to transit agencies to purchase new buses. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood noted that his department estimated earlier this year that $78 billion is needed to
Abu Dhabi’s Union Railway Co. has begun the procurement process for a roughly $11-billion rail network that will span the United Arab Emirates. Bids for a contract to design and build the fixed infrastructure are due this October. + Image Map: Walter Konefal For ENR Rail network will connect the emirates, and ultimately link up with lines being built in neighboring countries. Scheduled to be complete by 2018, the 1,300-kilometer network would be the first in the Gulf nation. The project will be “world-class,” says Union’s chief executive officer, Richard Bowker. Construction on the 240-km first phase, which is scheduled
Construction of a 700-ft-long footbridge—cantilevered out on 20 steel beams and clinging to the side of a canyon in North Vancouver, British Columbia—has been an adrenaline-pumping building project that, when finished, will leave tourists breathless. Visitors to the Capilano Suspension Bridge & Park will be able to view the surrounding Canadian rainforest from a galvanized steel walkway with a 20-in.-wide timber deck, which is suspended 300 ft above the canyon floor and attached to a granite cliff face up to 20 ft away. It was difficult to even find a starting point for the design of the unique cliff-hanging attraction,
Israel has issued a new tender for a long-planned light-rail project in Tel Aviv. The move follows the government’s cancellation last month of a build-operate-transfer award to an Israeli-Chinese-Portuguese-Dutch consortium. The project, now estimated at $2.5 billion, is one of Israel’s largest-ever infrastructure projects. The tender would cover planning for the 23-kilometer line between suburbs north and south of the city. About 11 km of the project will be underground, as will 23 of the planned 33 stations along the route. The government was forced to take over the project earlier this year after the consortium failed to obtain the
Indiana and Kentucky have awarded the $103-million design-build contract to construct the replacement bridge connecting Milton, Ky., with Madison, Ind., to the team of Walsh Construction Co., La Porte, Ind., and designers Buckland & Taylor Ltd., North Vancouver, B.C., and Burgess & Niple Engineers, Columbus, Ohio. Photo: KY DOT New Ohio River bridge will feature an historic-looking superstructure. The project received a $20-million federal grant in February. The remaining $83 million of cost will be split evenly by Indiana and Kentucky. The cost is about 20% less than the original estimate of $131 million, according to a statement from the
Libya has embarked on an ambitious course to build an extensive rail system that will offer both passenger and freight service. The major east-west route will parallel the coast, ultimately stretching 2,300 km from Ras Ejder on the border of Tunisia to Umm Sa’ad on the border of Egypt. Separate contracts have been awarded to Russian and Chinese contractors to complete certain segments. Since 2008 RZD (Russian State Railway) crews have been building a 554-kilometer Surt-to-Benghazi segment, which involves four major stations and 24 minor stations. The project is expected to take four years at a cost of $3 billion.
The Federal Highway Administration has given the Texas Dept. of Transportation a green light to proceed with construction of the West Rail project in Brownsville, an estimated $85-million effort to relocate a Union Pacific Railroad line out of the heart of the city and away from downtown Matamoros, Mexico. The project is a cooperative effort involving officials in both cities, the state agency, Cameron County and the Mexican government. On the U.S. side, improvements would relocate the existing railway from the U.S. 77-83 rail junction to a switching yard farther west, routing it south to the Rio Grande River just
The desire for federal 'TIGER' grants shows no signs of fading in transportation circles. Photo: U.S. Dept. of Transportation LaHood's DOT is sorting through almost 1,000 applications The U.S. Dept. of Transportation reported on Sept. 24 that the second round of its Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants had drawn more than $19 billion in applications for the $600 million it has available to award. A DOT spokesperson says that the department hasn't set an award date yet for the 'TIGER II' round. In all, DOT said it received almost 1,000 applications for the TIGER II competition, from every state,
Poor management of available resources at the Virginia Dept. of Transportation resulted in $877 million in transportation funds left unspent during the last two fiscal years, says an independent audit commissioned by Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R). Photo: Virginia Governor’s office Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell wants recently uncovered transportation funds contracted by Dec. 1. Some of that funding carried over from previous fiscal years will be used to help VDOT award $800 to $900 million in contracts by Dec. 1. “This audit demonstrates that available funding has not been effectively used in the past few years,” McDonnell said Sept. 23.
Airports in Southern California, one of the nation’s most heavily populated regions, are building as much and as “green” as they can with limited space and tight budgets. Modernization projects at the San Diego, Long Beach and Los Angeles airports are requiring engineers to think creatively. Photo: Courtesy of Paragon Shuffling of L.A. airport facilities, including a new taxiway, is a complex puzzle. Rendering: Courtesy Of SUNDT San Diego airport’s outdoor ticketing and check-in lobbies will take advantage of the region’s year-round mild weather. The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority’s $1-billion green-build program includes a 445,000-sq-ft expansion of Terminal
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