New Orleans, we won’t forget you, President Barack Obama said during a visit to the city October 15. The President and his cabinet will continue to assist the recovery and future protection of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region, both of which he says are critical to the nation’s environmental and economic vitality. He made his pledge while acknowledging the administration has other formidable challenges in reviving the economy and overhauling health care Photo: Angelle Bergeron President Obama reassured the Gulf Coast and New Orleans of his support, and most of the audience cheered him. Photo: Angelle Bergeron “I

It’s been a turbulent ride, but developers and builders of the nation’s first major greenfield airport to be built since Denver’s in 1995 are gearing up for a final landing in Panama Bay County, Fla. Lawsuits and an ongoing contractor dispute notwithstanding, officials with the Panama City-Bay County Airport Authority still plan on a May completion of the $330-million airport, envisioned as a crucial spur for future economic growth in Florida’s panhandle. Photo: Panama City-Bay County Airport Authority New airport in Panama Bay County was conceived as a project to expand business opportunities in the Florida panhandle. The 4,000-acre airport

Seeking to “ensure transparency and accountability” in the $8.7-billion effort to build a new commuter rail link under the Hudson River between New Jersey and Manhattan, Gov. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) has issued an executive order mandating more state oversight of spending and contracting. Slide Show Photo: New Jersey Transit Expanding rail-line terminus is one part of project to run more trains between New York and New Jersey. As the country’s largest transit public-works project, the rail link includes construction of two commuter tracks and requires 8.78 miles of tunneling. The project officially broke ground in June and is to be

Construction engineers finishing up the country’s longest cathedral-arch bridge in a tough, rocky patch of northern Nevada say they have found a new way to capitalize on the slow-and-steady power that strand jacks provide. Photo: Enerpac Rocky, rural terrain surrounds the Galena Creek Bridge, requiring special hoisting equipment. Photo: Enerpac Protecting the jacks are steel enclosures that bridge contractor C.C. Myers designed and fabricated. The boxes house a 15-hp, electrohydraulic supply and cable coiler, all powered by an on-site generator. C.C. Myers Inc., Rancho Cordova, Calif., is using a dozen of the 85-ton jacks fabricated by Milwaukee, Wis.-based Enerpac to

Seattle’s South Spokane Street Viaduct is one step closer to reality with the recent selection of PCL Construction Services Inc., Bellevue, Wash., for the final $60.3-million phase of a four-year widening program. The 60-year-old elevated roadway is the main east-west connector between Interstate 5 and West Seattle. Plans call for widening the two-lane, 3,000-ft-long structure to 86 ft—nearly double its current width—and adding new ramps and collector lanes. South Spokane Street, which runs beneath the viaduct, will be reconstructed to include new curbs, sidewalks and improved pedestrian and bicycle access. The entire project is scheduled to be substantially complete in

Engineers and contracting crews are breathing easier now that the most complex part has ended in building the $82-million Interstate 64 Kanawha River bridge project near Charleston, W.Va. With more than a year left to meet the project completion deadline, the bridge team already has secured a place in U.S. construction record books with a 760-ft main span of cast-in-place post-tensioned segmental box girders. That span is the longest of its type in the country, surpassing Houston’s Ship Channel Bridge by 10 ft. Photo: Brayman Construction Balanced cantilever construction has resulted in the country’s longest cast-in-place segmental box-girder main span,

The renewable-energy sector got a boost on Oct. 7 when the Dept. of Energy announced it will expand its loan guarantee program to commercial renewable-energy projects under the Energy Policy Act of 2005. DOE also unveiled a new Financial Institution Partnership program (FIPP) to expedite the agency’s loan-guarantee underwriting process and leverage private-sector expertise in funding eligible projects. Renewable-energy advocates say by expanding the loan-guarantee program to cover commercial, rather than just “innovative” projects, DOE will enable more renewable-energy projects to be built. But, they add, Congress should restore the $2 billion diverted from the loan-guarantee program to pay for

Duke Energy and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill have signed an agreement for a pilot project to install up to three offshore wind turbines in the state’s Pamlico Sound. Duke and UNC are completing the scoping document for the project, says Duke spokesman Tim Petit. After the scoping document is complete, Duke will issue a request for proposal for engineering and construction services. Turbines would be installed from eight to 10 miles offshore and would have a capacity of about 3.5 MW.

Wastewater utilities and contractors and designers that work in the wastewater sector must be prepared to adapt to a changing regulatory environment and a volatile economy in order to stay afloat, according to speakers and attendees at the Water Environment Federation’s annual conference, held Oct. 11-14 in Orlando. Greater regulatory enforcement, the current economy, technology advances and the need for sustainability-based measures are clearly pressing WEF members to make short- and long-term changes. Peter Silva, assistant administrator with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water, said his agency will step up its enforcement efforts. The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination

In the three years leading up to the current recession, gross billings at U.S. architecture firms increased nearly $16 billion from 2005 and totaled $44.3 billion in 2008. That equates to 54% growth over three years with annual growth of about 16%. These findings come from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Business of Architecture: AIA Survey Report on Firm Characteristics, which is conducted every three years to examine issues related to the business practices of AIA member-owned architecture firms. The study also revealed sizeable gains in the number of firms doing green design projects, as well as using Building