Related Links: Ten Minutes With Elaine Dezenski Of WTS Officials: Transportation Needs Many Options, Funding Transportation officials are calling for greater unity among modes and emphasis on infrastructure as an economic development tool in order to increase public support for funding."Transportation is increasingly about place-making," said U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, addressing members of the Women's Transportation Seminar in Washington, D.C., during a day-long symposium on Sept. 17. He added, "We have to husband our resources to be as efficient as we can."For example, he noted that ramping up use of construction methods such as warm-mix asphalt could
Related Links: Time-Lapse Video of Skagit Bridge Replacement Oregon Bridge Truss Travels On Teflon-Coated Tracks Time was of the essence: It was even built into the bidding process as a key factor in the $8.5-million project to replace the collapsed Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River in northwest Washington state.On Sunday, Sept. 15, crews from winning contractor Max J. Kuney Co., Spokane, made good on the firm's bidding commitment by sliding into place the state's first lightweight concrete bridge, with a 19-hour closure of the four-lane interstate connecting Seattle to Vancouver, B.C.Everything about the project was fast-tracked following a
Related Links: P3s, Maintenance In the Future for NYC Area Innovation, Outreach Will Accompany Billions in Transportation Work in New York and New Jersey Public-private partnerships for a major bridge and airport-terminal renovation are highlights of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey’s plans for the next decade, which focus mainly on fixing infrastructure that, in some cases, is almost 90 years old.Pat Foye, port authority executive director, told members of the Transportation Research Forum’s New York chapter in early September that the agency will retain authority over tolling on the Goethals Bridge, which will undergo a $1.5-billion
Photos Courtesy of Parsons Corp. Unbraced tied-arch structure was built off-site, then rolled and floated to its final destination over the Mississippi River. Related Links: Builders Say Precast Concrete Network Arch Bridge Is A First Massive Railroad Truss Rolls Into Place A new iconic crossing for Hastings, Minn., is nearing completion. The job used self-propelled modal transporters, barges, skid tracks and strand jacks to set what officials say is North America's longest free-standing, unbraced tied-arch bridge structure.The structure was not even in the original plans to replace the two-lane continuous steel-arch truss over the Mississippi River. The Minnesota Dept. of
Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects Global firms will manage billions in construction for ambitious Saudi metro program. Related Links: Saudi Arabia Upgrading Passenger Rail And Freight Service Global Teams Win Massive Contracts For Saudi Subway Lines Several global consulting firms have won plum contracts for a six-line, 131-station, 106-mile-long mass- transit system for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Riyadh Metro Transit Consultants, a joint venture of Parsons Corp., Egis and Systra, won a $556-million contract to manage the first two packages— including lines Nos. 1, 2 and 3 and totaling 104 kilometers—for the ArRiyadh Development Authority. The team will oversee construction of
Photos Courtesy of the Texas Dept. of Transportation TxDOT plans to mend torn-up roads, such as the I-37 frontage road in Live Oak County (above), by converting them to "high-end unpaved roads" (below). Related Links: Texas Department of Transportation Thanks to the energy boom in central and west Texas, heavy trucks carrying oil and natural gas are tearing up rural farm-to-market roadways that were never intended to bear such 100,000-lb loads. Since the Texas Dept. of Transportation doesn't have the funding to maintain more than 80,000 miles of roads across the Lone Star State, it plans to "unpave" 83 miles
Related Links: Israel Railway projects Tight Timetable and Historic Site Test Bridge Approach in Israel Israel Railways has resumed work on the country's two longest tunnels nearly three weeks after finding a 60-centimeter deviation from the planned route of the Tel Aviv-to-Jerusalem high-speed-rail line.The cause of the deviation in the twin 11.6-kilometer tunnels is still under investigation by Israel Railways, Israeli contractor Shapir Civil and Marine Engineering Ltd. and the Italian operator of the project's tunnel-boring machines."The solution ... involved a realignment of the TBM and will not have any impact on the route or project timetable," says Dror Sofro,
Danya Cebus Ltd. Construction of new 800-meter Motsa Bridge spans near Jerusalem will allow access to historic sites below. Archaeological excavations are under way of ancient military camps at project site. Related Links: Danya Cebus Ltd. website Website of Finley Engineering Group A major archeological site underneath and a tight timetable forced engineers to improvise solutions on a key bridge project that is part of the $800-million upgrade of Israel's main highway connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.Work on the two 800-meter-long precast spans on the Motsa Bridge along Highway 1 began in late August, part of a major rehabilitation and
RZD The work involved laying and ballasting the rail line, rebuilding a bridge and installing signalling gear. The northeast corner of North Korea, adjacent to China and Russia, is showing incipient signs of development. The Rason Special Economic Zone, where foreign investment is permitted, includes an ice-free port and offers potential as a trans-shipment point. China needs greater access to the sea to assist in moving cargo out of its landlocked northeast provinces. China leases one pier at Rason’s port to ship coal to southeast China and has offered to lease two additional piers. But Rason’s electricity grid is antiquated,
Related Links: Video of Panama Canal gates arriving ACP reports on expansion progress Crews this month wheeled ashore the first four of sixteen gates—each the size of a 10-story building—for the Panama Canal’s new locks, a major milestone for the $5.2-billion project. Mounted on self-propelled motorized wheel transporters, each of the 3,100-ton gates was off-loaded onto a temporary dock on the Atlantic side of the waterway, not far from the new locks that will be their permanent home.The gates, costing about $548 million to fabricate and install, are the centerpiece of the enormous third set of locks that is being
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