After a year that had many firms on track for record revenue in transportation, the economic crisis that now spans the globe has raised fears that many future projects could be derailed in the coming months. Although market observers see significant continued demand for transportation work, future funding streams remain uncertain as governments grapple with sagging tax revenue, private developers retrench and the credit market threatens public-private partnerships. Photo: Parsons Brinckerhoff The North London Railway Infrastructure project, part of a $14-billion program to expand railways around London, will complete in 2011. Photo: PCL PCL has several projects under way in

The pace of oil-and-natural-gas-related engineering and construction work has been nothing short of frenetic over the past several years, with global engineering and construction giants scrambling to find qualified professionals to staff a slew of multibillion-dollar projects. But the combined effects of falling energy prices, a slumping global economy and the lingering credit crisis are raising doubts about whether the world’s largest energy companies will continue to keep their capital investments flowing in 2009 and 2010. Photo: Nancy Groce, Smithsonian Institution Projects in Alberta’s oil-sands fields are being scaled back. Related Links: 2008 Top Global Sourcebook The international market for

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is conducting a Dec. 19 competitive lease sale for geothermal energy development on 61 parcels totaling nearly 200,000 acres in Utah, Oregon and Idaho. The event will be held in Salt Lake City to lease 47 parcels in western and southwestern Utah, totaling 146,339 acres; 11 parcels in Oregon, totaling 41,362 acres; and three parcels in south central Idaho, totaling 8,676 acres. Photo: Ormat Technologies Inc. Idaho’s first geothermal plant, Raft River, began operation this year. Utah has only two geothermal powerplants, totaling 47 MW, but it has 1,440 MW of developable potential, reports

Last year, the big news in the international powerplant design and construction sector was the unprecedented boom in coal-fired plant work in China, India and other fast-growing, “emerging” economies.

As large-scale wind farms continue to multiply across rural landscapes, building owners in denser locations are looking to save some green with pint-sized wind turbines. But the financial reward is not always the biggest factor weighing on owners’ minds, experts say. Photo: Cascade Engineering Michigan mill is generating public awareness. Concerns over energy prices and fossil fuels also have small wind blowing from all directions. The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. is spending $25 million to put up rooftop turbines in New York, while a $11.2-million, low-income housing project designed by Helmut Jahn in Chicago has been generating rooftop power

The U.S. Energy Dept has awarded its last major revamped management contract this year at a U.S. nuclear cleanup megasite, selecting a URS Washington-division-led team for a $3.3-billion, six-year award to manage liquid wastes at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. It bested a competing bid from a team led by Parsons Corp. and including Fluor Corp., a Parsons spokeswoman confirms. The URS venture also includes Babcock & Wilcox, Bechtel National Inc., CH2M Hill Constructors Inc. and AREVA Federal Services LLC, the U.S. unit of the French nuclear technology firm. The award returns URS to a significant management role

Moscow’s Federation Tower is well on the way to becoming Europe’s tallest building at 365 meters, with one of the world’s loftiest concrete frames. With its accompanying 509-m-tall observation tower, the skyscraper is on “super fast track,” a schedule that sometimes has left the building’s Chinese contractor struggling to keep up with a design that keeps evolving. Slide Show Photo: Thornton Tomasetti/Sofia A. Pechorskaya Contractor is having trouble keeping up with design changes. Related Links: High-Rise Fever Hits Moscow As one of Russia’s first modern skyscrapers, the two-building Federation Tower development leans heavily on western expertise in design, management and

Until recently, no buildings in Moscow surpassed the 240-meter Moscow State University—the tallest of the city’s “Seven Sisters” towers built at sites throughout the city during Stalin’s era. But a few years ago, Russia’s new wealth from natural resources started an upward rush. Before the global economic crisis hit, plans were moving forward for 4.6 million sq m of high-rise development by 2012. But with only two buildings complete and 11 under way, developers are raising eyebrows by putting some jobs on hold. Still, Moscow remains Europe’s high-rise hot spot. Slide Show Photo: Turner Construction Moscow City, with 14 towers

As the incoming Obama administration and congressional Democrats work on an economic stimulus plan, state transportation officials say there are more than 5,100 jobs-creating highway projects worth $64.3 billion that could get under way quickly if funding became available. The $64-billion total in the report, released Dec. 5 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, is more than triple the sum contained in a survey AASHTO conducted in January. President-elect Barack  Obama has signaled that public-works funding, including aid for highways, is likely to be part of a stimulus plan expected to be proposed in January. But

Costa Rica-based Constructora Meco, S.A. submitted a $36.7-million bid, the lowest of six offerings submitted for the third of four dry excavation contracts as part of the Panama Canal Third-Lane Expansion Project. Barring a successful protest or reversal based on technicalities, the firm is the apparent winner. The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) will now review the submissions to determine the lowest-priced bid that meets all of the requirements stated in the request for proposals. The winning bid is expected to be announced before the end of the year. Constructora Meco’s bid is 4% below a $38.2-million bid by Constructora Urbana,