Oklahoma is on a mission to ensure it never again wins the dubious honor of having the nation’s highest percentage of substandard bridges. The Oklahoma Transportation Commission this month approved a $4.3-billion, eight-year budget to fund 1,750 vital bridge and highway projects from 2011 through 2018. The transportation budget is the state’s largest ever, says Oklahoma Dept. of Transportation spokeswoman Terri Angier. Photo: Oklahoma DOT More than wear and tear, debris accumulation can accelerate a bridge’s structural undermining. In 2002, the non-profit organization The Road Information Program (TRIP) reported that Oklahoma had the country’s highest percentage of structurally deficient or

Companies working on the $670-million Mississippi River Bridge in St. Louis have shattered geotechnical records with a 36,067-ton load test on one of the bridge's drilled-shaft, concrete foundations. Photo: MTA Joint Venture Record-breaking load cell makes its final descent. Related Links: St. Louis Link Will Be Tough, Diverse, Green Osterberg Cell Transformed Testing Award of Excellence Winner Clyde Baker The test, performed this past June, consisted of drilling an 11.5-ft-dia shaft 43.5 ft under the riverbed, then cutting an 11-ft-dia socket more than 23 ft into the underlying limestone bedrock. An Osterberg hydraulic load cell was then lowered to the

Twenty-five states have filed 77 applications totaling more than $8.5 billion for the U.S. Dept. of Transportation's next round of high-speed-rail grants. Many applicants will be disappointed: DOT only has about $2.3 billion to distribute. The department expects to announce the winners of the new round of grants "in early fall," says Rob Kulat, a spokesman with DOT's Federal Railroad Administration. FRA did not have a list of applicants available. Based on reports from some, but not all, states, among the largest requests are from California, which is seeking $1.58 billion, and Florida, which is applying for $1.1 billion. Another

The Shaw Group Inc. will provide technical support services for at least two new nuclear power units in China under an agreement with the government signed on Aug. 17. The Baton Rouge, La.-based engineer-contractor currently is building four of the AP1000 closed-loop pressurized water reactors in the country, along with its consortium partner, Westinghouse Electric Co. Photo: Courtesy of The Shaw Group In Zhejiang province, a module is placed at the Sanmen nuclear power-plant, one of six plants Shaw Group will build for China. Shaw’s services on the new AP1000 reactors at the Xianning nuclear powerplant project in Hubei province

Under a national Smart Grid effort, the American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association jointly are developing a standard that would provide a common basis for electrical-energy consumers to describe, manage and communicate information about electrical-energy consumption and forecasts. The first meeting on the proposed ASHRAE/NEMA Standard 201P, Facility Smart Grid Information Model, is on Aug. 30 to Aug. 31 at ASHRAE headquarters in Atlanta. The goal is to define an object-oriented information model to enable appliances and control systems in buildings, homes and industrial facilities to manage lighting, heating, ventilating and air-conditioning

Further reducing the scope of a land-purchase agreement originally proposed by Gov. Charlie Crist (I), the South Florida Water Management District agreed on Aug. 12 to purchase approximately 26,800 acres in the Everglades from the U.S. Sugar Corp. for $197 million. + Image Map: Courtesy South Florida Water Management District The district will acquire the land in the Everglades Agricultural Area and C-139 basin for water-quality and environmental restoration projects. The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) plans to close on the property in Hendry and Palm Beach counties in October. The deal includes options for up to 10 years

Starting next month, California’s state capital campus, a complex of 23 buildings encompassing 5.5 million sq ft, will be cooled by water chilled in a 4.25-million-gal thermal-energy storage tank. The 140-ft-tall metal cone is the final phase of a $181-million central-plant replacement on course to receive the second-highest ranking—LEED Gold—of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green-building rating system. Photo: Todd Quam Digital Sky Aerial Imaging Payback period is three to four years for the energy-efficient systems in the state capital’s $181-million district heating and cooling plant. The 78,000-sq-ft California central plant is the largest

Twenty-five states have filed 77 applications totaling more than $8.5 billion for the U.S. Dept. of Transportation's next round of high-speed-rail grants. Many applicants will be disappointed: DOT only has about $2.3 billion to distribute. The department expects to announce the winners of the new round of grants "in early fall," says Rob Kulat, a spokesman with DOT's Federal Railroad Administration. Odds of winning are long, but not as daunting as in FRA's initial high-speed-rail grant competition, when the agency was inundated with $57 billion in applications for $8 billion in grants. DOT officials announced the winners of that first

The decade-long expansion of Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport has suffered its share of turbulence, but the $6-billion capital program is now soaring to new heights with elevated roads and a new terminal, and to new depths, with key components located beneath an active taxiway. Photo Courtesy Of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Extension of people mover will connect new 1.2-million-sq-ft terminal beneath a taxiway to the existing concourse, for a total of 40 international gates. Photo Courtesy Of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport New international building will carry 12 gates and five floors. All construction procurements are complete, with 256 active subcontracts

A mediated settlement of a decade-long fight has opened the way for construction of a new, $800-million container terminal and port-access road in Charleston, S.C. On Aug. 6, the South Carolina State Ports Authority and the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League concluded several months of negotiations with an agreement on specific actions to monitor and reduce air emissions from port operations and mitigate gridlock through increased use of rail connections. The settlement ends a 2005 court challenge regarding permits by the League, but the battle dates back to 1999, when the League objected to an earlier plan because of emissions