Also part of the new stimulus plan are hundreds of billions of dollars in proposed tax cuts aimed at stanching job losses and prompting businesses and municipalities to make growth-producing investments. Industry officials welcome them, but some are not convinced they will have the economic impact legislators and the Obama administration envision. Photo: Mortenson Wind-power production tax credits need to be streamlined, proponents say. Related Links: Proposal in House Fires Up Debate Does Massive Spending Help or Hurt in Long Run? Modest Program Favors Jump-Start Fix-up Effort Highway Aid Has Some Strings Attached Advocates Hope To Fly, Sail or Roll
If the House stimulus bill passes, water resource and navigation would get $5.4 billion distributed by four federal agencies: the Army Corps of Engineers, the International Boundary and Water Commission, the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the Dept. of Agriculture and the Coast Guard. Photo: USIBWC Lower Rio Grande River levee upgrade program would get major infusion Related Links: Proposal in House Fires Up Debate Does Massive Spending Help or Hurt in Long Run? Modest Program Favors Jump-Start Fix-up Effort Highway Aid Has Some Strings Attached Advocates Hope To Fly, Sail or Roll To Reform Funds Will Energize Long-Delayed Projects
The $825-billion economic stimulus proposal that House Democrats unveiled on Jan. 15 provides the first firm numbers for construction industry executives who for months have been searching anxiously for hints about the plan. Infrastructure advocates panned the proposal as far short of what is needed. Pelosi says “this is the first step.” But with House of Representatives committee and floor votes and Senate action still to come, the package is far from the last word on the stimulus. As drafted, the plan would have a major impact on construction. By ENR’s calculation, the package has about $135 billion in construction
A recent winter reprieve in fuel costs has been short-lived. During the week of Jan. 12, the average price for regular gasoline inched up 10¢, or 5.9%, to $1.78 per gallon, while on-road diesel rose 2.3¢, or 1%, to $2.31 per gal, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But prices for both fuels are still considerably lower than a year ago, with gas and diesel ringing up 41.8% and 30.4% lower, respectively. Despite low costs today, the slumping economy threatens to force a rebound in fuel prices later. EIA points to an overall climate of cutbacks for petroleum capital
Defective construction resulting in costly repairs has caused cash-strapped MGM Mirage Inc. to slash condo plans at its $9.2-billion CityCenter development on the Las Vegas Strip, says CityCenter President and CEO Robert “Bobby” Baldwin. Photo: Kirvin Doak Communications CityCenter tower will be 24 stories instead of 49. On Jan. 7, the casino giant said it is cutting the Harmon Hotel & Spa in half by eliminating 200 high-end residences, of which only 44% have been sold. The curving cast-in-place concrete tower is designed by London-based Foster + Partners. Halcrow Yolles Structural Engineers is the structural engineer. Perini Building Co. is
As lawmakers on Capitol Hill talk about what they want and don’t want to see in an expected economic stimulus package, President-elect Barack Obama is urging them to act as quickly as possible on his still-developing proposal. Obama cautions that if legislators delay, the crisis will only get worse. As markets watch, President-elect says proposal will include tax cuts and spending. “For every day we wait or point fingers or drag our feet, more Americans will lose their jobs,” Obama warned in a Jan. 8 speech. “And our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we
With uncertainty in the air about how rapidly Congress will move on an economic stimulus package, President-elect Barack Obama urged lawmakers to act as quickly as possible on his still-developing plan, warning that if they do not, the current crisis will only worsen. Photo: AP/Wideworld President-elect Obama presses for stimulus. In a Jan. 8 speech at George Mason University in Virginia, Obama fleshed out some of the elements of the developing plan in more detail than he has so far, and reiterated that it would include aid for highways, school repairs, modernization of federal buildings and a boost for alternative
New construction starts in November fell 3% from the previous month, according to McGraw-Hill Construction, of which ENR is a unit. Through the first 11 months of 2008, total construction was down 16% from the same period a year ago, with virtually all the decline being attributed to a 39% drop in residential construction. If housing is excluded from the figures, new construction starts during this period were up a slight 1% over 2007. “The steep correction for housing has been under way for three straight years now, and a fourth year of decline is anticipated for 2009,” says Robert
New Mexico’s engineers and contractors are ready to expedite the bidding of $1.2 billion worth of construction projects in the wake of an economic stimulus package. Mike Gibson, executive director of the Associated Contractors of New Mexico, believes the national focus on infrastructure could also stimulate New Mexico’s Legislature to allow design-build, Construction Manager-At-Risk and other alternative project delivery methods in 2009. Related Links: New Mexico Projects Questions Swirl On Stimulus Plan �Ready to Go� May Be The Stimulus Ticket “Some concerns of industry leaders are that all 50 states will be competing for resources to deliver their respective lists
The Colorado Dept. of Transportation has included 116 road and bridge projects totaling $1.166 billion on its sample list of ready-to-go highway projects awaiting a possible federal transportation stimulus bill. With the exception of a $210-million request for full reconstruction of a major freeway interchange north of Denver, most of the list includes smaller paving and bridge maintenance projects averaging a few million dollars each. Related Links: Colorado Projects Questions Swirl On Stimulus Plan �Ready to Go� May Be The Stimulus Ticket That list does not include CDOT’s requests for an additional $113.1 million for aviation projects, mostly improvements to
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