Photo by Daniel Azoulay. Courtesy Bouygues Civil Works Florida On May 6, the PortMiami tunnel project's 380-ft-long tunnel-boring machine completed the final bore of two 4,200-ft-long tunnels. The $1-billion project is targeting an August 2014 completion. Related Links: Port Of Miami Tunnel Project Features Big Challenges A Gigantic Turnaround for a Giant Tunneling Machine Tunnel crews with Bouygues Civil Works Florida completed the last leg of mining for the second of two 4,200-ft-long tunnels for the $1-billion PortMiami tunnel project. On May 6, the project's 380-ft-long tunnel-boring machine—nicknamed Harriet—broke through for the last time, landing back on Watson Island, where
Related Links: Mott MacDonald official website Macalloy official website The steel-rod hangers on the Czech capital's new Vltava River crossing—one of Europe's most slender, bow-string arch bridges—are crisscrossed, not vertical. This design saved up to 40% in materials, the designers claim.Prague’s Troja Bridge, which stood on its own once crews decommissioned temporary river piers in March, is slated to open next spring.With a steelwork arch rising only 20 meters over its 200.4-m-long deck, the bridge’s height-to-span ratio is about half what is typical. That results in shorter hangers, reduced wind resistance, less steelwork and lighter foundations, claims the bridge's lead
Related Links: Planned Coal Export Terminals Spur Opposition in Northwest Coal Facilities Face Challenges Three of six Washington and Oregon coal-port proposals are dead. Three plans remain: two along the Columbia River—one in Oregon, the other in Washington——and another near Canada, north of Bellingham, Wash.Proposals in Grays Harbor, Wash., Coos Bay, Ore., and, most recently, St. Helens, Ore., have all been killed.Houston-based energy giant Kinder Morgan is the latest to drop out, suspending coal-terminal plans at the Port Westward Industrial Park at the Port of St. Helens. The $200-million project—still in a due-diligence phase prior to permitting—was yanked because site
Photo Courtesy of TBPOC Crews will bypass broken bolt rods (above) by installing custom-made steel saddles containing hundreds of concrete-encased post-tensioned wires that will cover the shear keys attached to the rods (rendered below). Rendering Courtesy of TBPOC Related Links: Repairs on Broken Bay Bridge Rods Could Prove Tricky Caltrans Responds to Alleged Testing Flaws on New Bay Bridge The Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee, or TBPOC, says it has a plan in place to fix broken bolts on the $6.4-billion San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge project. It was revealed in March that 32 of the 96 anchor bolt rods on
Related Links: Sarah Long Bridge Replacement Cost Estimate Drops $12 Million The Sarah Mildred Long Bridge Replacement (Maine DOT) Engineers are expediting repairs on the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge, which sustained $2.5 million in damages in April when an oil tanker broke loose from a state pier and smashed into the structure's center lift span.Covered by insurance, this temporary repair will last until work on a $160-million bridge replacement begins in 2015, says Bill Boynton, New Hampshire Dept. of Transportation spokesman.The 2,000-ft-long, lift-span structure, co-owned by the New Hampshire and Maine DOTs, crosses the Piscataqua River on U.S. Route 1.
Rendering Courtesy of PANYNJ The Goethals (rendering, top) and Bayonne bridges will likely stretch local resources. Image Courtesy of HDR Related Links: Bridge Job Gets Big Bump From Designers, Feds Construction officials in and around New York City celebrated on April 24 the award of nearly $3 billion in new bridge construction contracts as a boost to the region's economy and job growth.The awards, by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, include significant rehabs of two key bi-state crossings and the region's first major public-private partnership (P3) financing arrangement in the $1.5-billion project to replace the antiquated
Courtesy of Mass Rapid Transit Corp. Kuala Lumpur's mass rapid-transit line, now under construction, is worth more than $10 billion. Related Links: Viewpoint: Vietnam, Indonesia Hold Opportunity for U.S. Firms Kuala Lumpur's MRT Line Economic growth in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia will remain strong at an average 6% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. The countries represent the top five economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.While China’s recovery is “foggy,” with a growth rate of 7.8% last year to a forecasted 8.2% in 2013 and 8% in 2014, “ASEAN’s economy is
Related Links: Calif. High-Speed Rail Backers Push 'System Blend' Bid Results Announced for First Leg of Calif. High-Speed Rail The California High-Speed Rail Authority's $68-billion high-speed-rail project recently announced a probable joint-venture team to construct its first phase, but that doesn't mean trains will be leaving the station soon. The embattled project still faces lawsuits and questions, even from former supporters."High-speed rail is at a crucial point," says Quentin Kopp, former chairman of the authority. Over the past 18 months, "missteps and violations" of the 2008 Proposition 1A bond measure have changed public opinion, he says.Kopp, who co-authored the bill
Image Courtesy of California High Speed Rail Authority Design and construction of the approximately 28-mi section of high-speed rail between Madera and Fresno is expected to begin this summer. Related Links: California Selects PCM for First High-Speed Rail Section Calif. High-Speed Rail Backers Push 'System Blend' The California High-Speed Rail Authority released bid results from five teams seeking to design and build the first section of the state’s high-speed rail line between Madera and Fresno. Proposals submitted in January for the approximately 28-mile segment were scored 70% on price and 30% on technical merit, with the team of Sylmar, Calif.-based
Related Links: NJ Design Firm Executives Face Pay-to-Play Charges Revised Tax Law Will Help Industry Firms, But Some Provisions Fall Short The 300 recently furloughed and unpaid employees of Birdsall Services Group, Inc., Eatontown, N.J., breathed a bit easier on April 15 as the engineering firm agreed to pay $3.6 million to settle criminal prosecution charges with the state. The action unfreezes assets of Birdsall, which still remains under indictment on corruption charges and is seeking bankruptcy protection, and allows the firm to operate and call employees back to work with pay. Birdsall, meanwhile, is in talks with a potential
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