Construction is scheduled to start this year on what will be the third-longest cable-stayed bridge in the U.S., linking St. Louis and western Illinois over the Mississippi River by 2014. The scope, limited bids and challenges of the Interstate 70 project caused the winning bid to exceed engineering estimates by almost $40 million. Image: MoDOT New St. Louis-Illinois crossing will be challenging but potentially rewarding for the contractor. On Dec. 30, the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission (MHTC) awarded the $229.5-million contract to a joint venture of Massman Construction, Kansas City, Mo.; Traylor Brothers Inc., Evansville, Ind.; and Alberici Constructors

Managers of London’s Crossrail railroad have chosen the final five of 24 design teams for the estimated $26-billion project, said to be Europe’s largest infrastructure job. Last month, Crossrail Ltd., short-listed five international consortiums to compete for the two main tunnel contracts, extending 18.1 km, with awards due by June. Preparatory work on the tunnels’ western portals, at Royal Oak, is due to start this month. The 118-km east-west railroad will include 21 km of twin, 6.2-m dia. tunnels under the city. All schedules could change after the government elections, which must be held before June. The opposition Conservative Party,

Photo: DHV Group Vietnam bridge initiative will allow much larger vessels to travel the Mekong River. Vietnam’s ministry of transport, public works and water management has launched a four-year, $100-million project to improve navigation along 250 km of the Mekong River, a key transportation corridor. Netherlands-based DHV Group has won a contract covering design and management, and construction is due to start in a year. Work on 18 existing and new bridges, as well as a lock, will allow 600-tonne vessels to ply the river, about 20 times bigger than those now in use.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Jan. 4 he would meet with stakeholders on the future of the planned $1-billion Cape Wind wind farm in Nantucket Sound after the National Park Service ruled that its planned site is eligible for listing as a national historic site because of cultural significance to two local Native American tribes. The project, located off the Massachusetts coast, would be the country’s first offshore wind farm. It would involve construction of 130 turbines, each 440 ft high, and other structures. Environmentalists and other opponents claim the project, being developed by Cape Wind Associates LLC,

The Indian government is considering adopting a new rating system for all new planned government and public-sector buildings. The Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA), developed by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Dehli, was first introduced in mid-2008 as a way to rate buildings’ environmental performance in a variety of climates. It rates buildings on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest performance rating. GRIHA has been developed for all types of buildings in different climatic zones of the country, said Deepak Gupta, secretary of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

Along the National Mall in Washington, D.C., memorials honor the service of Americans in wartime, but the site’s newest addition will be one that fosters conflict resolution and peace. The 150,000-sq-ft permanent headquarters for the U.S. Institute of Peace, being built at the mall’s northwest corner near the Lincoln Memorial and the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge over the Potomac river, will greet visitors with a dramatic new structure that its designers say both respects the context of its historic surroundings and offers a strikingly modern contrast. Slide Show Photo: The U.S. Institute of Peace. The 150,000-sq-ft U. S. Institute of Peace,

In an unusual move in the highly commercialized sports market, the city council of Irving, Texas, voted on Dec. 31 to award naming rights to the demolition of Texas Stadium to Kraft Foods Global. The city council says the partnership, nicknamed “The Cheddar Explosion,” will yield $1 million in promotional value for the city. Kraft agreed to pay $75,000 for the naming rights and provide an additional $75,000 in products to local food banks. Weir Bros. Inc., a Dallas-based contractor, received a notice to proceed on the demolition project on Oct. 20, 2009. The implosion of the stadium is tentatively

The developer of the world’s tallest building, which opened on Jan. 4 in Dubai after more than a year’s delay, has announced the height at 828 meters. The announcement ends years of speculation, fueled by developer Emaar Properties. Members of the design and construction team, including architect-engineer Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and lead contractor Samsung Corp., were contractually obligated to keep the height a secret. The 828-m height makes the building 320 m taller than the previous world’s tallest building, the 508-m Taipei 101. The difference is equivalent to an 80-story-plus tower. The Burj Khalifa, which is the Burj Dubai’s

The developer of the world's tallest building, which finally opened Jan. 4 in Dubai after more than a year's delay, has announced the height at 828 meters. The announcement ends years of speculation, fueled by developer Emaar Properties. Members of the design and construction team, including architect-engineer Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and lead contractor Samsung Corp., were contractually obligated to keep the height a secret. Emaar Properties Burj Dubai opens under its new name, Burj Khalifa The 828-m height makes the building a whopping 320 m taller than the previous world's tallest building, the 508-m Taipei 101. The difference is

Though work is expected to resume in about five weeks, the Dec. 24 collapse of a 50-meter-long portion of an unfinished, 1,100-m-long cable-stayed bridge, some 50 m above the river Chambal near Kota in Rajasthan, has left the National Highway Authority of India baffled. The accident killed more than 45 people. Many others still are missing. Crews are removing more than 8,000 tonnes of concrete that fell, killing more than 45 people. The $65-million project, 310 miles from New Delhi, consists of a 700-m-long cable-stayed structure with a 350-m main span and an access viaduct on either end. Hyundai Engineering