A federal judge in New Orleans ruled on March 20 that a civil lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers brought by homeowners who suffered flood damage in Hurricane Katrina in 2005 can proceed. The suit claims the Corps is liable for levee failures along the Mississippi River to Gulf Outlet, a navigation channel. The Corps has immunity from claims arising from flood-control failures but does not have the same protection with respect to navigation infrastructure. Judge Stanwood J. Duval Jr. said “substantial questions” have been raised. Damages could reach $100 billion.

The American Society of Civil Engineers released its comprehensive 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure on March 25. ASCE released a preliminary report of the national letter-grade findings on Jan. 28, assigning the nation’s roads, bridges, water systems and other critical infrastructure a cumulative grade of D and noting a five-year investment need of $2.2 trillion. The version now out breaks down the data in state-by-state detail. See www.asce.org/reportcard.

Warm-mix asphalt is hot. Asphalt industry officials believe warm mix, porous asphalt pavement and reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) will come to dominate paving in the next few years because the products offer lower costs and higher environmental benefits than traditional hot mixes. Photo: Pat Monroe Photo: Aileen Cho / ENR Attendance was up at World of Asphalt 2009, fueled by warm-mix applications. Related Links: World of Asphalt 2009: Warm All Over “The warm-mix revolution is starting to spread,” said Matthew Corrigan, asphalt pavement engineer with the Federal Highway Administration, addressing attendees of the Asphalt Pavement Conference on March 9 in

Alow-profile 350-meter-long, 15-m-wide suspension bridge designed by a U.K.-French team will carry part of a 25.5-kilometer planned light-rail system, called Metro West, across Dublin’s Liffey River to the city’s northeast corner. The Irish government’s Railway Procurement Agency, which oversaw design competition, wanted a low-key design. “Because it’s sensitive, we didn’t want [tall] towers,” says Davood Liaghat, technical director at Buro Happold Consultants Ltd., Bath, U.K. The structural firm, with Paris-based Explorations Architecture S.A., won RPA’s com-petition and a $190,000 prize. Celtic Crossing. Suspension bridge will maintain a context-sensitive profile. “We decided to lean the towers back to [match] the tree

In a twist on the proverb “Set a thief to catch a thief,” physicists at the University of Texas at Austin have designed a system to facilitate the disposal of spent nuclear fuel that combines nuclear fission with fusion. The hybrid system will destroy 99% of the spent fuel, and the waste that remains will be less toxic than the spent fuel now accumulating in storage at nuclear powerplants around the country, the researchers say. President Barack Obama’s decision to halt further development of the Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository in Nevada and “devise a new strategy toward nuclear-waste disposal” has

CityCenter, the still-under-construction megaresort on the Las Vegas Strip, faces mounting challenges in reaching completion. The project, touted as the nation’s largest privately funded development, has tried unsuccessfully for months to obtain a $1.2-billion loan to finance the final leg of construction. Now its partners are fighting in court. The $9.2-billion CityCenter, which includes 19 million sq ft of hotels, homes and entertainment space, broke ground three years ago. On March 23, project partner Dubai World, a conglomerate owned by the Dubai government, sued developer MGM Mirage in Delaware Chancery Court. The timing couldn’t be worse: MGM Mirage is cash-strapped

Progress on two major European skyscrapers may not represent the green shoots of economic recovery, but they help lighten the gloom. In London, pile work is just starting on the 310- meter-tall “Shard,” planned as Europe’s second-tallest building. Elsewhere, workers in Frankfurt are beginning to mobilize the planned Tower 185. Photo: London Bridge Quarter Ltd. Celtic Crossing. Suspension bridge will maintain a context-sensitive profile. Related Links: London Shard Tower Rises From Gloom Photo: Viveco Real Estate With Middle Eastern backing, London Bridge Quarter Ltd. recently signed a construction contract with London-based Mace Ltd. for the estimated $1.5-billion riverside development, including

Will the deepening recession and skittish lending environment find their next victim in CityCenter? The Las Vegas development faces mounting challenges in reaching completion. The project, touted as the nation's largest privately funded development, has been trying unsuccessfully for months to secure a $1.2-billion loan needed to finance the final leg of construction. Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) have reportedly made calls to banks on the project's behalf. The $9.2-billion resort complex was scheduled to open in December. On Mar. 23, however, developer MGM Mirage was slapped with a lawsuit by project partner Dubai

Preliminary design of the world’s longest sunken tube tunnel is to begin following a recent contract award covering the roughly 30-km Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao fixed highway sea link, China. At 5.6-km, the tunnel will be some 2-km longer than the current record holder, on the Denmark-Sweden Øresund crossing, according to the Scandinavian tunnel’s designer, Copenhagen-based Cowi A.S. Cowi is also in the design consortium just hired by the Chinese government, which includes the Hong Kong office of Arup Group, Chinese Highway Plan and Design Institute Ltd. and Shanghai Tunnel and Design Institute. The link will be elevated for 22.8-km and include