With a massive appropriations package now in place for the rest of fiscal year 2020, engineering firms and contractors can breathe easier as the construction season approaches, knowing how much funding is available through Sept. 30 for important federal infrastructure programs.
Transportation agencies, including the Federal Highway Administration and several state DOTs, are pushing forward with making Building Information Modeling a bid deliverable and binding reference document for projects.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) dismissed Secretary of Transportation Tom Smith on March 10 in an apparent dispute over the use of funds from a $1.6-billion bond issue endorsed by the state’s voters in October 2017.
In choosing Elaine L. Chao as his nominee to head the Dept. of Transportation, President-elect Donald J. Trump picked a former Cabinet secretary who has held senior positions at DOT and was a board member of two prominent construction industry firms.
South Carolina Secretary of Transportation Christy Hall lost her job briefly on May 18, when the state Supreme Court invalidated Gov. Nikki Haley’s (R) power to appoint her.