Traffic moved across the Bridge of Lions on March 17 for the first time in four years following the lengthy restoration of the historic landmark in St. Augustine, Fla. A key part of the work required the rehab team to remove the bridge’s signature arched girders and, after sandblasting, return them as non-load-bearing elements. Photo: Reynolds, Smith & Hills The bridge that is considered a signature of St. Augustine, Fla., was rehabbed in phases that included building a temporary bridge. In 2004, the Florida Dept. of Transportation awarded a rehabilitation contract to Tidewater Skanska Inc., Virginia Beach, Va., for a

BC Hydro, British Columbia’s province-owned electric company, on March 11 selected 19 renewable projects to be built in the province as part of a request for proposals for renewable projects. The projects include five wind farms and 14 run-of-river hydro projects that will cost a total of about $3 billion. When complete, the projects will produce 2,400 GWh of electricity. BC Hydro is still considering 28 other renewable projects to meet the province’s goal of 5,000 GWh of renewable electricity.

TransCanada Corp., based in Calgary, Alberta, received permission on March 11 from Canada’s Energy Board to build the 327-mile Canadian portion of the Keystone XL expansion pipeline, which will be the first pipeline to take Canadian crude oil to the U.S. Gulf Coast. The 36-inch pipeline will be 1,980 miles long, beginning in Hardisty, Alberta, and going through Saskatchewan, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and finally into Texas. The $1.66-billion pipeline will carry the equivalent of 1.1 million barrels per day. Applications for U.S. regulatory approvals are proceeding, and decisions are expected late this year. TransCanada says construction is

A 70-story, folded, creased and curved stainless-steel curtain wall on an 867-ft-tall apartment building has been called “Gehry only on the outside,” as if the building is a fake Frank. It’s true that, when it opens next year, New York City’s tallest residential tower won’t be an internationally acclaimed cultural icon, as is the architect’s now-12-year-old Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain. The 76-story high-rise is not as colorful, whimsical and structurally innovative as the nearly decade-old Experience Music Project rock ’n’ roll museum in Seattle. The new tower is not as description-defying inside and out as the six-year-old Walt Disney

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, claims that a three-year-old student recreation facility at its main campus fails to meet some seismic requirements under the 2002 Uniform Building Code. The structure remains open, but a warning notice is posted. Photo: Luetta Callaway Investigator alleges differences between flexible and rigid components cause problems. Related Links: Engineer�s Report on UNLV Building Designed by the Phoenix office of DMJM Design, a unit of AECOM, with St. Louis-based Hastings+Chivetta Architects Inc., the building is likely to end up in court. Bennett & Jimenez Inc., Las Vegas, which has since shut down, was the structural

The project will rebuild the Congress Parkway interchange, which connects Interstate 290 to the north-south leg of Chicago’s Wacker Drive, the double-decker downtown artery made famous in the movie “The Blues Brothers.” Photo: City of Chicago Rebuilding Wacker Drive’s north-south leg will take about two years. Chicago’s Wacker Drive played a starring role in “The Blues Brothers.” After opening the initial round of bids from three prominent Chicago contractors on Feb. 11, the city disqualified two, then rejected the third for being too expensive. The lowest bid, at $73 million, came from a joint venture of F.H Paschen and Cabo

The growing demand for renewable energy has pushed one big Ohio power provider to build five hydroelectric projects, worth $2 billion, on existing Ohio River valley dams.

A rocky season in Colorado began on cue on March 8 with a rockslide on Interstate 70 near Glenwood Springs. It punched holes in a bridge and dumped boulders the size of semitrucks on the highway, closing a 17-mile stretch. Four days later, the Colorado Dept. of Transportation announced that Flatiron Construction Corp. of Longmont, Colo., was the apparent low bidder for the contract to repair damage. The job includes 400 linear ft of westbound barrier, 150 linear ft of eastbound steel bridge rail, a design-build fix of 460 sq ft of retaining wall, 500 tons of base course and

The Washington State Dept. of Transportation escaped one last schedule hurdle in its planned opening of the new, $519.8-million state Route 120 Hood Canal Bridge, thanks in part to the ample time allotted for functional testing of the new west-half lift span.

Construction of a $1.4-billion, 11-kilometer light-rail line connecting Vancouver, B.C., to other provincial cities is set to start in early 2011, even though Translink, the municipal transportation authority, cannot yet fund its share of the project. British Columbia Prime Minister Gordon Campbell says the line, which has portions at grade, elevated and below ground, will move forward despite uncertainties on funding its final $400 million. The project also is sponsored by provincial and federal governments.