German investigations into faulty underground construction suspected to be linked with last year�s collapse of a building in Cologne were extended today to a section of elevated rail over 400 km away, completed nearly four years ago by the same contractor. Related Links: Prosecutors Search for Fraud in Rail Project �We want to make sure that works have been carried out correctly at all projects where similar technologies were used,� says Herbert Bodner, Chairman of Bilfinger Berger A.G., Mannheim. Suspicions by the investigators of the Cologne collapse prompted the new probe of work on the high-speed line. In parallel, diaphragm

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council�s latest energy plan calls for 85% of new energy needs over the next 20 years to be met through efficiency. Area utilities aren�t so sure of its feasibility. Portland General Electric spokesperson Steven Corson says that the 85% goal can�t be met �cost effectively� and is not realistic with current technologies and Suzanne Hartman of Seattle City Light says that it is �uncertain� if that goal can be met region-wide, although SCL will save enough energy in the next five years to equal the capacity of a new power plant. The Sixth Northwest Power

Even as slimmed down as it is, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s new jobs bill has provisions that construction officials like, but the $15-billion measure is much less generous to public works than the $154-billion version the House passed in December. With Democrats’ Senate majority no longer filibuster-proof and GOP votes hard to get, Reid faces a tough fight to get his bill approved. Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP Reid’s bill has an incentive for companies to hire new workers, plus an expanded bond program and an extension for a depreciation break. The Nevada Democrat’s proposal, introduced Feb. 11,

High-speed-rail builders from Europe and Japan trekked to Washington, D.C., Chicago and Los Angeles in early February to share their experiences with Americans. Public-private partnerships, interoperability with other systems and public outreach were among the topics broached by French, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese rail officials. Photo: California High Speed Rail Authority California’s planned high-speed rail line may be informed by advice offered from around the world at a symposium. State engineers and their consultants are rolling up their sleeves after a Jan. 28 award of grants from the $8-billion pot for high-speed rail. In the Los Angeles symposium, held

Just a week after the chairman of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority warned of a possible budget crisis—one that would be the worst in 30 years—one of his former chief engineers told another industry audience of the subway and bus systems’ urgent needs. Cosema Crawford, who left her post as chief engineer of the New York City Transit Authority last fall to join Louis Berger Group as senior vice president, noted that the 106-year-old subway system still has a signal system that is more than 50 years old. “It needs $20 million a year over 15 years just to

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) discussed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act results and a new jobs bill in a Feb. 3, one-on-one interview with ENR. Edited excerpts follow. Q: Are you pleased with the agencies’ pace at putting out work to bid? A: [I’m] very pleased with the way the state DOTs responded [in highways]. ... And the reason it all worked so well is that we have a formula by which our funding goes out. We also had told state DOTs, “We expect you to have projects ... ready for bidding.” And most of them

The Dept. of Transportation has awarded $1.5 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants to 51 projects that are expected to have a significant regional or national impact. The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant winners cross most transportation modes, from bicycle paths to major bridges and freight-rail projects. Related Links: View summaries of each winning project DOT's awards, announced Feb. 17, range from $3.2 million for a Burlington, Vt., waterfront project, to $105 million for the "Crescent Corridor" freight rail-improvement program in Tennessee and Alabama. Interest in the TIGER program far outstripped the dollars DOT had available.

An innovative, Texas-style highway contract will be put to the test as construction starts this month on the $1.02-billion DFW Connector project. It is designed to relieve congestion and double traffic capacity near the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The design-build contract for the job, a so-called Comprehensive Development Agreement, or CDA, was awarded by the Texas Dept. of Transportation (TxDOT) on Oct. 6, 2009 to NorthGate Constructors, a joint-venture consortium led by Kiewit Texas Construction, Fort Worth, and Zachry Construction, San Antonio. Under the CDA, the consortium will simultaneously design and build the new expressway complex starting on Feb. 15.

The Obama administration announced on Feb. 16 the first of what it hopes will be several loan guarantees for the construction of new U.S. nuclear facilities. The U.S. Dept. of Energy says it will offer a total of $8.33 billion in conditional loan guarantees to build and operate two new nuclear reactors at Atlanta-based Southern Cos.’ existing Alvin W. Vogtle plant in Burke, Ga. The project, the first U.S. nuclear powerplant to break ground in nearly three decades, is expected to create approximately 3,500 on-site construction jobs. Baton Rouge-based Shaw Group and Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric Co. are providing engineering, construction

California’s Air Resources Board downshifted this month by offering contractors “relief.” The regulatory board says it will delay enforcement of its emissions regulations—which were set to go into effect on March 1—for existing off-road diesel machinery until it receives a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Construction lobbyists say the move is counterproductive to their recommendation to fully delay the rules for two more years. “CARB’s offer to not enforce the off-road regulation—a rule that it cannot fully enforce without a waiver from the federal EPA—as ‘relief’ is disingenuous at best,” says Mike Lewis, senior vice president of the