The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has pumped another $2.5 billion into the high-speed-rail funding pipeline and is increasing the flow of actual obligations from its $8-billion first rail round. The moves are good news for the states that won grants and companies pursuing the work. However, whether the new Congress will approve another installment of Photo: California High Speed Rail Authority California won the largest amount, $901.6 million, in the second round of U.S. DOT rail grants. high-speed-rail (HSR) aid in 2011 remains an open question. In announcing the winners of the $2.5-billion round-two competition on Oct. 28, DOT Secretary
California and Florida together have won nearly 70% of the $2.5 billion for high-speed rail that the U.S. Dept. of Transportation's awarded in its second round of funds for the new program. Related Links: DOT Sketches Plan For High-Speed Rail 'Excited' High-Speed Rail Builders Get Ready The awards, which DOT announced on Oct. 28, would help fund 54 projects in 23 states. The latest awards follow an initial, $8 billion in DOT high-speed-rail aid, whose winners were selected in January. The first-round money came from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. For the newly announced grants, DOT received 132
The reprieve for a major new commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson River, once set to be the largest public works project in the U.S., never arrived. Proponents of the megaproject, estimated at $8.7 billion, failed to convince New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie (R) that the state would not have to make up cost overruns that some claimed would boost the total price of the project to $13.7 billion. “In the end, my decision is not changed,” Christie said. “I cannot place upon the citizens of the State of New Jersey an open-ended letter of credit.” Christie emphasized his objection
The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority has selected the team of Delaware River Stevedores, Philadelphia, and Hyundai Merchant Marine Shipping Agency Inc. to develop a 119-acre site; the resulting Southport Marine Terminal will try to attract commercial container vessels that will be using the expanded Panama Canal to reach East Coast markets. + Image Photo: PRPA Before construction can begin on Philadelphia’s first new marine terminal in a half-century, however, the developers must put together a facilities design and financing plan for the project, estimated to cost $250 million. The developers also will ensure that the first phase of the dredging
Battling floods, difficult soils and the environmentally sensitive nature of the Amazon rainforest, crews are building a 3,600-meter-long, $400-million bridge with a 400-m-long cable-stayed central section over the Negro River using a 400-barge working platform. The project, marked by a death and environmental controversy, is intended to boost economic development in the Amazon. Brazil’s Manaus-Iranduba Bridge, scheduled for completion by year’s end, will straddle the river close to where the waterway merges with the Amazon River. The span will create a land link between the city of Manaus and the town of Iranduba as well as 30 other, smaller municipalities.
A $4-billion-plus highway that includes what will be one of the world’s longest highway tunnels will soon be under construction along the west side of Stockholm, Sweden. Image: Courtesy of Foster + Partners A rendering of the winning Slussen master plan to revitalize the waterfront area. + Image image: Courtesy of Vägverket. The route for the Stockholm Bypass Project, which will include one of the world’s longest road tunnels, skirts the city’s west side. Related Links: Foster+Partners Slussen Masterplan slideshow Project for Public Spaces blog: “Is Stockholm in Danger of Losing Its Waterfront?” Vägverket’s official site Stockholm Traffic Bypass Gets
A six-firm consortium now is assembling loans for a $6.5-billion project to build a 377-kilometer-long, privately financed toll highway in Turkey. The project—from Gebze, near Istanbul, to Izmir—includes a suspension bridge that likely will incorporate the world’s second-longest span over the seismically active Izmit Bay. The Izmit bay crossing, with a 1,700 m span, “is still in the conceptual design stage,” says Simon Bourne, head of bridges at U.K.-based URS/Scott Wilson Ltd., Basingstoke. The firm, in a joint venture with AECOM, has a $15.9-million contract with the project consortium to supervise the bridge’s design and construction. The consortium Otoyol Yatirims
The U.K.’s construction sector found some solace in the Oct. 25 publication of the country’s first national infrastructure development plan. It was announced a few days after the government outlined huge cuts in infrastructure and other public budgets aimed at eliminating its deep budget deficit. Credit: ffice of The Prime Minister Prime Minister David Cameron’s budget cuts spare the Crossrail London railroad tunnel. Related Links: London’s Massive Rail Project Gains Favor How far the U.K.’s six-month-old coalition government and its conservative prime minister, David Cameron, will go to cut the deficit is shown by their willingness to pull back on
Workers floated out the last section of the old Willis Avenue Bridge on Oct. 26. The section will be moved on Nov. 2, decontaminated of asbestos and other harmful materials and transported to New Jersey for recycling. The new bridge section has been actively accepting traffic since Oct. 2, but construction of the $612-million project is scheduled to continue for the next two years, says Bill Nyman, project manager for Hardesty & Hanover LLP. “We’ve done this without affecting traffic,” says Nyman. “The project is on schedule, and there’s been limited impact.” Nyman says the project has caused quite a
A German consortium apparently has won a $1-billion concession to run San Francisco’s Presidio Parkway project for 33 years. The state of California, the California Dept. of Transportation and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority issued a notice of intent to sign a public-private partnership deal with Essen, Germany-based Hochtief Concessions. Meridiam Infrastructure, Luxemburg, is Hochtief ’s 50% partner on the Golden Gate Bridge southern access project’s design, construction, finance, operation and maintenance. The consortium’s construction team is led by Hochtief subsidiary Flatiron. The German firm set up Hochtief PPP Solutions North America in 2009 to bid on PPP projects
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