This summer, Sears Tower will have a new face to match its new name. Although Chicagoans are less than thrilled about Willis Group Holdings moving in, the new view atop “Willis Tower” may render them speechless. Image: SOM Sears Tower’s observation floor will extend visitors beyond the curtain wall. Image: SOM Innovative glass boxes will provide gut-wrenching views from Chicago’s tallest tower. Just outside the glassed-enclosed, 103rd-floor skydeck, construction is under way to offer visitors a view of the city at all angles, including straight down, by means of four laminated, structural-glass modules that will extend more than 4 ft

The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has said that it is allocating $742.5 million in economic-stimulus funds to speed construction of 11 transit projects in nine states. The DOT plan, announced on May 7, distributes funds to projects for which the Federal Transit Administration has multi-year, full-funding grant agreements. The aid, contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, doesn't represent an increase in DOT's total funds for the projects, but gets anticipated federal money to the transit agencies sooner than expected and allows work to proceed more rapidly. The ARRA measure provides a total of $8.4 billion for FTA capital

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on May 8 that it would distribute $111.9 million in grants bolstered by funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help communities clean up Brownfield sites. The grants include $37.3 million from the Recovery Act and $74.6 million from the EPA Brownfields general program. The grants will help to assess, clean up and redevelop abandoned, contaminated Brownfields—sites where expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant. The Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002 expanded the definition

Foundation work for a signature bridge is under way as part of a $2.2-billion Interstate corridor project in Connecticut. Critical elements include constructing the nation’s first extradosed bridge and beefing up commuter rail service in what Connecticut Dept. of Transportation officials say is the largest single construction effort ever undertaken by the agency. Photo: URS New Q-bridge (above) section foundation is located between existing I-95 and vertical-lift Tomlinson Bridge. Photo: Aeropix Photo: Raito Inc. Supertop rig drills 200-ft-long steel casings into rock. The 7.5-mile-long I-95 New Haven Harbor Crossing Corridor Improvement Program, extending from the Long Wharf area in New

Two years ago, only cows occupied the hilly 922-acre expanse just outside Branson, Mo. But aggressive construction, including moving nearly 12 million cu yd of earth has transformed it into the nation’s first privately financed and operated commercial airport.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority can proceed at full speed with its $7-billion capital program, thanks to being the nation’s first transportation agency to sell more than $1 billion in taxable bonds that come with a 35% reimbursement from the federal government under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Build America bonds (BABs) will contribute $1.375 billion to the authority’s 10-year capital program, along with $375 million sold in traditional tax-exempt bonds. Photo: Aileen Cho / ENR Gutierrez-Scaccetti (right) and Raczynski lead $7 billion in planned capital projects. Photo: New Jersey Turnpike Authority A broadened investor base means the

California’s push to increase renewable energy’s share of the power market is showing results. Construction of the first phase of a new 400-MW solar power project in the California desert will begin in late 2009 once a contractor is named. Photo: Brightsource Energy Inc. Flat mirrors mean lower cost for BrightSource’s solar plant, piloted in Israel’s Negev Desert. Oakland, Calif.-based BrightSource Energy Inc. this year has signed contracts with Rosemead, Calif.-based Southern California Edison Co. and San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for a total of 2,200 MW of power from seven planned solar plants at locations in California

The U.S. Green Building Council and the Green Building Certification Institute have released an improved version of the green-building rating system, which standardizes language across all categories and overhauls the LEED-accredited professional system, turning it into a tiered program. The current release includes LEED 2009, LEED Online Version 3 and a new certification process based on ISO standards. It also updates all the LEED categories at once, including those for new construction, schools, core and shell, commercial interiors and existing buildings. LEED Online V3, the implementation tool, has been retooled to be faster, more responsive and stable. USGBC has seen

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has started staged award of a $500-million-plus contract for construction of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway West Closure Complex in southeast Louisiana. It is expected to be the largest and most complex piece of the Greater New Orleans Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System. Included are extensive flood-wall systems, a 20,000-cu-ft-per-second pump station and two sector gates of about 225 ft and 75 ft in width, all built next to a federally designated “nationally significant” wetland, says Kevin Wagner, Corps senior project manager. On April 17 Gulf Intracoastal Constructors, New Orleans, a joint venture

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have released a draft plan for the restoration of the Hudson-Raritan Estuary that they hope will lead to a more coordinated effort to remediate the heavily polluted area. Released on April 14, the two-volume Comprehensive Restoration Plan (CRP) provides a framework for restoring the estuary. Corps officials say the plan represents a consensus view of how the estuary—roughly defined as the waters and wetlands within a 25-mile radius of the Statue of Liberty—should be restored. Sources say the plan, the result of a 1999