Work has begun on a $700-million ferronickel plant in eastern Cuba, near Moa, that is slated for completion in 2013. The Las Camariocas plant is the largest construction project now under way in the island nation. It has been undertaken by Quality Cuba S.A., a joint-venture contractor comprising Cuba’s state-owned engineering and construction firm, Quality Couriers International S.E.A., and the government of Venezuela. Upon completion, the plant is expected to annually produce 68,000 tons of ferronickel, which is an ingredient in stainless steel. Quality Cuba S.A. also is partnering with Brazil’s Odebrect to build a $600-million container terminal at the

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave final approval July 27 to Central Maine Power, a subsidiary of the Spanish-owned company Iberdrola USA, to begin work on a $1.4-billion electricity transmission network, one of the largest construction projects in Maine’s history. The project includes five, 345-kV substations linked by 450 miles of new or rebuilt transmission line. The line’s southern end will tie into the New England grid near the New Hampshire border and its northern end will link with Canadian transmission lines in Orrington, Maine. The utility has contracted with Maine contractors Cianbro Corp., Pittsfield, and RJ Grondin &

More than any other European nation, the U.K. is pinning its hopes for a low-carbon-electricity future on offshore wind power. It already has more offshore generation than any other nation, at over 1,000 MW. But with construction costs posing the major hurdle to reach the U.K.’s goal of generating 12,000 MW by 2020, the quest is on for the best foundations in ever-deeper waters. Because of supply bottlenecks and other factors, the real construction cost of offshore wind farms has risen 20% since the first commercial schemes were built seven years ago, says Rob Hastings, head of marine resources at

Aiming to cut costs of offshore wind power, British engineers are developing a vertical-axis turbine that would eliminate the need for a tower, reduce stress on blades and foundations and ease installation work. The developer of the 10-MW device hopes to have a 1-MW proof-of-concept machine at work within two years. A full-scale demonstration would follow. Photo Courtesy Wind Power Ltd./Grimshaw In the vertical-axis concept, blades spin close to the ocean surface, like a fan on its back. The device has two rotors attached to inclined arms. These arms rise from a vertical axle in a module sitting just above

An inflatable dam in downtown Tempe, Ariz., burst on July 20, emptying most of the contents of the 1-billion-gal Tempe Town Lake. No one was injured and no property was damaged in the resulting flood, which traveled down the normally dry Salt River through Phoenix. Peak flows were measured at 15,000 cu ft per second, equivalent to an average release during the area’s winter rainy season. Photo: Tony Blei Photography Eight rubber-coated fabric bladders retained 1 billion gal of water in Tempe. The two-mile lake was formed in 1999 using eight flexible, rubber-coated fabric tubes manufactured by Tokyo-based Bridgestone Industrial

Officials in northeastern Iowa are cleaning up in the aftermath of a July 24 dam failure, and early analysis indicates an earthen berm next to a section with concrete spillways was overtopped and eroded away when the rain-swollen, 9-mile-long Lake Delhi overwhelmed it. Photo: AP/WideWorld Earthen berm by spillway was overtopped and eroded. “It appears at this point that there was just a lot more water than the dam was designed for,” says Lori McDaniel, supervisor of floodplain management and dam safety programs for the Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources. Further, she says the concrete spillway next to the berm

The historic Boston University bridge is receiving a sorely needed $20-million total body makeover while still remaining open to a steady stream of cars, cyclists and pedestrians. Crossing over the Charles River, the 80-year-old Boston-Cambridge link, which provides spectacular views of Boston’s skyline, had aged to the point where the sidewalks were crumbling, the railing had rusted, and concrete was spalling. The old drainage system was so corroded that stormwater went through the bridge and into the river. The project received a boost from 2008 Massachusetts legislation that created the $3-billion, eight-year Accelerated Bridge Program. Pihl Inc., the U.S. branch

The Bay Area Rapid Transit’s board of directors July 22 vowed to continue with the proposed $484-million Oakland Airport Connector, even though the federal government in February withdrew $70 million in stimulus funds because affirmative action goals were not met. The board approved a new funding plan by a vote of 8 to 1 that reduces project costs by $8 million and proposes to utilize BART’s reserve account, high-speed rail bonds and a loan from the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act to fill the gap. The withdrawal of stimulus funds postponed awards of contracts for the 3.2-mile automated people

The Missouri Dept. of Transportation tentatively has set September 15 as the target date to restore access between I-470 and I-435 in southern Kansas City, following an existing fill-supported ramp collapse on July 17. Photo: Missouri Dept. Of Transportation Groundwater is one of several possible causes being evaluated by investigators into Kansas City ramp failure, which occurred on July 17. Pyramid Contractors, Olathe, Kan., was awarded the contract to build a 225-ft-long, four-lane replacement structure currently being designed by HNTB, MoDOT’s engineering consultant. Expected to cost about $4.46 million, the precast structure will be built atop two bents with drilled

Shovels, hammers and hardhats were nowhere in sight. Instead, participants in a public outreach workshop used hair curlers, buttons and paper clips to construct model train stations for California’s proposed high-speed-rail route. California has been awarded $2.25 billion in federal economic stimulus funds to develop a high-speed-rail line, scheduled to start construction in 2012. The project, currently in the process of finalizing track alignments, will feature trains running up to 220 mph. Transportation experts repeatedly have cited the importance of public involvement to the success of the $45-billion, multiregional project. Held in downtown Los Angeles on July 17, the “groundbreaking”