With a winning bid more than 10% below the lowest official estimate, a consortium including American Bridge Co., Coraopolis, Pa., has been named preferred bidder for a $1.3-billion contract to design and build Scotland’s new Forth highway bridge.
Citing the recent Japanese earthquake, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn (D) called for elected officials to reevaluate their decision to leave the seismically vulnerable Alaskan Way Viaduct (State Route 99) intact until 2016 as part of the deep-bore tunnel program schedule. + Image Map: WashDOT Photo: WashDOT State will spend $20 million to stabilize downtown Related Links: WashDOT interactive simulation of constructon schedule Ron Paananen, Wash. Dept. of Transportation viaduct program administer, couldn’t disagree more. Echoing sentiments of the majority of the Seattle City Council and Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire (D), Paananen says, “To simply close the viaduct without a reasonable
The California High-Speed Rail Authority is expected to meet an Oct. 2 deadline to apply for a portion of the $8 billion set aside for high-speed train development under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The authority’s board approved an application for more than $4.5 billion in federal stimulus funding for engineering, design and construction of the state’s high-speed train system—generating an investment of $9.1 billion when state matching funds are added. Included in the authority’s so-called Track 1 projects list is a request for $400 million in ARRA funds for construction of a Transbay Terminal in San Francisco, the
The new $21.5-million Norridgewock Bridge—one of only two modern tied-arch concrete bridges to be built in the U.S.—is taking shape over the Kennebec River in northern Maine. Photo:Courtesy Of Kleinfelder New Maine crossing replicates concrete tied-arch design, only one of two in the U.S., according to the owner. The new bridge includes a 300-ft center span and two 150-ft approach spans. Four of six transverse braces are now in place, along with 19 intermediate floor beams and three end beams. When opened this fall, it will replace a four-span concrete tied-arch bridge built in 1928, which was one of the
As states around the country prepare to apply for shares of the $2.4 billion in federal high-speed rail aid that Florida's governor rejected, two recently released ridership and financial estimates show that the now-cancelled Tampa-Orlando line would have been profitable in its first year. According to preliminary data released in early March by the Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT), the $2.7-billion system would have generated $62.9 million in revenue in 2015, its first year of operation, and posted an estimated $10.2-million profit. By its 10th year of operation, the latest estimates indicate revenue would rise to $91.8 million in revenue
States seeking the $2.4 billion in federal high-speed rail funds that Florida's governor turned down will have to file new applications with the U.S. Dept. of Transportation. Related Links: DOT Notice The deadline is tight: DOT Secretary Ray LaHood announced late on March 11 that the deadline for applications for the funds is April 4. U.S. DOT had awarded the $2.4 billion to Florida last year, but the state's new governor, Rick Scott [R], turned it down. There is likely to be no shortage of competition for the money. LaHood said, "States across the country have been banging down our
The U.K. government in late February announced a plan for an estimated $52-billion project to extend the country's only high-speed railroad northward to Birmingham and beyond. It aims to start construction of the line, dubbed HS2, later this decade, and hopes to see trains start running by 2026. “Countries across Europe and Asia are already pressing ahead with ambitious plans for high-speed rail,” said Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, launching the five-month public information process. “We cannot afford to be left behind.” In a first phase of the proposed Y-shaped system, the line would be extended from London by 225 km
As state transportation agency chiefs gathered for their annual winter meeting in Washington, D.C., they received some encouraging news from Congress on highway and transit funding for the short term, but not as many answers as they had hoped about the murky longer-range legislative picture. During the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ legislative briefing on March 2-4, Congress cleared—and President Obama signed—a bill that extends highway and transit authorizations for seven months, the seventh stopgap since the last multiyear measure lapsed in September 2009. Also enacted while the meeting proceeded was a temporary appropriations bill to keep
The Israeli government is planning an estimated $800-million expansion of the 140-kilometer Cross-Israel Highway, the country’s sole north-south toll road. A joint committee of ministry representatives has issued a request for proposals for two extensions totaling 20.5 km, including 3.7 km of tunnels. Photo: TEDEM Civil Engineering Two planned extensions to the Cross-Israel highway, the country’s first toll road, will add 20.5 kilometers and three tunnels to its 140-km length. The highway’s original $1-billion segment, designed to allow drivers to bypass the congested Tel Aviv metropolitan area and substantially reduce north-south travel times, opened in 2001. “This is one of
Kenyan roads officials say plans for the first toll road in sub-Saharan Africa to be built under a public-private partnership have “collapsed” after the prime financier’s “integrity concerns” about a concession partner have led it to back out of the deal, although the challenged partner, the Austrian construction firm of Strabag SE, denies the plan is dead. Slide Show A consortium plan to design, construct and operate six segments of a 77-kilometer toll road as well as a 29-km southern bypass under a 30-year concession apparently has “collapsed.” Franklin Bett, the Kenyan roads minister, said in a press conference on
RSS
