Now that high-speed rail is considered “sexy” and politically supported in the U.S., engineers and suppliers are eager to seize upon potential project opportunities. But they must choose carefully from a variety of technologies, methods and financial models found in the rest of the world. “We are in the fourth generation of high-speed trains globally,” said Anthony Perl, professor of urban studies at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, at a high-speed rail conference held Oct. 22-23 in Washington, D.C. “The biggest obstacle in the U.S. is where to put high-speed rail and where to build it. We have to
South Korea’s 12.3-kilometer Incheon Bridge has opened to traffic on time, 52 months after the roughly $1.6-billion privately financed contract was signed. Linking Yeongjong Island and Incheon City, the crossing includes a 1.48-km-long cable-stayed bridge with an 800-meter steel box-girder main span. U.K.-based Amec PLC was project manger and holds shares in the crossing’s developer, Incheon Bridge Co. Samsung Corp. led the turnkey joint venture working to a design by Canada’s Buckland & Taylor Ltd. and detailed by Japan’s Chodai Co. Ltd. Photo: AMEC
The Los Angeles airport board on Oct. 19 awarded two contracts worth $1.26 billion to reconfigure Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport. The project will be built by Walsh Austin Joint Venture, Los Angeles, and is to be completed by 2013. A $545-million contract includes building nine new boarding gates. A $584.2-million contract covers security work.
After a year’s delay, the Florida Dept. of Transportation and a concessionaire have closed on a $900-million public-private partnership that will create a pair of 3,900-ft-long, 41-ft-dia tunnels connecting to the Port of Miami. Last month, FDOT, Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami finalized an agreement in which the concessionaire, called Miami Access Tunnel, will design, build, finance, operate and maintain the project, using its own equity to fund half. Bouygues Civil Works Florida Inc. will lead the $607-million construction portion of the job, with engineering assistance from Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Pasadena, Calif. FDOT will repay the concessionaire
Anna Bligh, Queensland, Australia’s state prime minister, formally opened Brisbane’s $58-million Kurilpa “tensegrity” pedestrian and bicycle bridge on Oct. 4. Local design-build contractor Baulderstone Pty. Ltd. completed the 470-meter-long crossing, with a 120-m-long main span, to a design by Brisbane-based Cox Rayner Architects and the local office of Arup Engineers. The primary structure comprises a mesh of cables tensioned to compressive tube steel struts. Related Links: ASHRAE Developing Manuals for New 'Green' Standards Jacobs Gets Long-Term Amtrak Infrastructure Improvement Job Corps Reorganizes Mideast Operations AP1000 Reactor Design Issues Concern NRC New Island for Bahrain
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Pasadena, Calif., has signed a contract with Amtrak to provide program-management and construction-management services for more than 100 infrastructure improvement projects at over 360 locations across the U.S. The contract could possibly exceed $560 million and is being funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Jacobs will oversee in part or in full the design and construction of projects such as maintenance facility upgrades, bridge replacements, track work, security enhancements and station improvements. Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm says the contract, which does not include “higher-speed” corridors, calls for all projects to be completed by Feb.
It’s been a turbulent ride, but developers and builders of the nation’s first major greenfield airport to be built since Denver’s in 1995 are gearing up for a final landing in Panama Bay County, Fla. Lawsuits and an ongoing contractor dispute notwithstanding, officials with the Panama City-Bay County Airport Authority still plan on a May completion of the $330-million airport, envisioned as a crucial spur for future economic growth in Florida’s panhandle. Photo: Panama City-Bay County Airport Authority New airport in Panama Bay County was conceived as a project to expand business opportunities in the Florida panhandle. The 4,000-acre airport
Seeking to “ensure transparency and accountability” in the $8.7-billion effort to build a new commuter rail link under the Hudson River between New Jersey and Manhattan, Gov. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) has issued an executive order mandating more state oversight of spending and contracting. Slide Show Photo: New Jersey Transit Expanding rail-line terminus is one part of project to run more trains between New York and New Jersey. As the country’s largest transit public-works project, the rail link includes construction of two commuter tracks and requires 8.78 miles of tunneling. The project officially broke ground in June and is to be
Construction engineers finishing up the country’s longest cathedral-arch bridge in a tough, rocky patch of northern Nevada say they have found a new way to capitalize on the slow-and-steady power that strand jacks provide. Photo: Enerpac Rocky, rural terrain surrounds the Galena Creek Bridge, requiring special hoisting equipment. Photo: Enerpac Protecting the jacks are steel enclosures that bridge contractor C.C. Myers designed and fabricated. The boxes house a 15-hp, electrohydraulic supply and cable coiler, all powered by an on-site generator. C.C. Myers Inc., Rancho Cordova, Calif., is using a dozen of the 85-ton jacks fabricated by Milwaukee, Wis.-based Enerpac to
Seattle’s South Spokane Street Viaduct is one step closer to reality with the recent selection of PCL Construction Services Inc., Bellevue, Wash., for the final $60.3-million phase of a four-year widening program. The 60-year-old elevated roadway is the main east-west connector between Interstate 5 and West Seattle. Plans call for widening the two-lane, 3,000-ft-long structure to 86 ft—nearly double its current width—and adding new ramps and collector lanes. South Spokane Street, which runs beneath the viaduct, will be reconstructed to include new curbs, sidewalks and improved pedestrian and bicycle access. The entire project is scheduled to be substantially complete in
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