As outlines of new House and Senate transportation bills come into sharper focus, it is clear the construction industry will be hard-pressed to get even a small federal funding boost above current levels for highways and transit. That outcome would be another blow to construction firms bracing for the end of the federal stimulus program and enduring spending cuts by state and local transportation agencies.Two plans are on the table. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) on July 7 formally unveiled a $230-billion, six-year transportation framework. In the Senate, Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer
If all goes according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s plan, Los Angeles will avoid the dreaded “Carmageddon” this weekend when a major highway section is sealed off. Related Links: Locals' Ire Doomed a Simpler I-405 Plan All of Southern California, it seems, is bracing for the shutdown of a 10-mile section of Interstate 405 so that one of its overpasses, the Mulholland Drive Bridge, can be partially demolished as part of a $1-billion project to upgrade the I-405 between Interstate 10 and U.S. 101.The media-saturated region dubbed the weekend closure “Carmageddon” in reference to the end of Southern California driving
Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Jeffrey Mullan says reports about his resignation this fall are premature, according to an email from a Mass. DOT spokesman today. Related Links: MassDOT Study Blames Salt For Big Dig's Fallen Light Fixture MassDOT Administrator Out After Latest Big Dig Mishap “In May, I discussed with the Governor my intention to transition from the administration within the year for personal reasons,” Mullan states in the email. “However, we made no final decisions regarding my future at that time. While I still intend to transition out this year, I have made no final plans. I am fully
After months of wrangling between the Calgary Airport Authority and the city of Calgary, the airport's $2-billion expansion has received a last-minute add-on: a tunnel underneath the 14,000-ft-long, 200-ft-wide runway. Rendering Courtesy of Calgary Ariport Authority The $1.4-billion terminal is already in construction and substantial work recently started on the $620-million runway—the largest project of its kind in North America.The two entities reached a tentative agreement in May, allowing the city to construct a six-lane extension of Airport Trail east under the runway to connect to the northeast section of the city, also keeping open the possibility for future light
After months of wrangling between the Calgary Airport Authority and the city of Calgary, the airport's $2-billion expansion has received a last-minute add-on: a tunnel underneath the 14,000-ft-long, 200-ft-wide runway. The $1.4 billion terminal is already in construction and substantial work recently started on the $620 million runway—the largest project of its kind in North America.The two entities reached a tentative agreement in May, allowing the city to construct a six-lane extension of Airport Trail east under the runway to connect to the northeast section of the city, also keeping open the possibility for future light rail extension. Jim Stevenson, Calgary
Construction of East Africa's first-ever standard-gauge railway, which is being undertaken by Kenya, the region's largest economy, has been pushed back by nine months after Kenya’s railway operator delayed the procurement process for the $3-billion project.The Kenyan government now has allocated $36 million in the new financial year, which began on July 1, to jump-start the stalled design studies that were initially slated for completion in April, according to Kenyan Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta. The new railway line linking Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi would ease freight movement from the port of Mombasa to landlocked countries, helping to reduce transport
Oman and Egypt will spend $2.95 billion in the next few years to expand and rebuild major airports in a bid to boost tourism and cargo capacity. Dubai and Bahrain have also announced significant expansion plans for their airports in order to become global aviation hubs. Related Links: Chinese Suffer Major Setback in European Construction Market Norway Firm Clinches Tanzania Power Contract Hong Kong's Tuen Mun Sludge Incineration Plant Will Be One of World's Largest Kenya Delays $3B Railway Project for Nine Months Israel Embarks on Country's Largest Seismic Retrofit A consortium of San Francisco-based Bechtel, Turkey’s Enka Construction Co.
A final report is pending on how technological advances can aid in the diagnosis, and ultimate rehabilitation, of the nation's vast bridge network, based on an exhaustive study led by Rutgers University in New Jersey, involving teams from three continents. Courtesy Rutgers University Research that will look at U.S. system of 600,000 bridges begins with a single span in Wayne, N.J. Courtesy Rutgers University Non-destructive evaluation methods provide information more quickly, at a fraction of the cost of conventional testing metods. Related Links: Rutgers/PB-Led Research Team Will Study Hundreds Of Bridges The U.S. system includes some 600,000 bridges. This number
Poland's decision on June 13 to cancel the contract with Chinese Overseas Engineering Group (COVEC), a subsidiary of the state-owned China Railway Engineering Corp., to build a 50-km (31-mile) stretch of the key east-west A2 Highway has dealt a blow to Chinese ambitions to break into the lucrative European construction market. Web photo Polish government says it will seek to restart work this summer on Chinese-abandoned highway, but finding a contractor to take on the project could be challenging. Related Links: Oman, Egypt Lead Middle Eastern Push To Upgrade Airports Norway Firm Clinches Tanzania Power Contract Hong Kong's Tuen Mun
As Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport's $6-billion expansion program heads for a final landing in 2012, the airport is wrapping up other epic challenges, such resolving disputes with a design-firm joint venture and the airport's major airline tenant. All major construction is just about complete, with some 900 workers on-site, ramped down from a peak of 2,000, says Kevin Fauvell, project construction manager with the $1.19-billion construction manager-at-risk contractor, a joint venture of Holder Construction Co., Manhattan Construction Group, CD Moody and Hunt Construction Group.The original budget for the new Maynard H. Jackson International Terminal was $1.19 billion, with a contingency
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