The economy may have curbed passenger traffic at many U.S. airports, but its effects on aviation construction so far have been minimal. The reason is the extensive amount of time required for airport construction programs to evolve, says Jayne O’Donnell, vice president of Turner Construction Co., New York City, and general manager of Turner’s aviation practice. Related Links: Contractors Play Waiting Game As Funds Start to Trickle In “Work is on schedule because it’s been scheduled for years,” O’Donnell says. Despite continuing turmoil among air carriers, “Airports are pretty skilled in planning and building for what’s probable, not what’s possible,”
An unexpected crack found in a section of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge delayed the planned Sept. 8 reopening only by about 90 minutes, rather than a full day, thanks to fast delivery from a fabricator and non-stop work by the contractor. Although the $140-million removal of a 3,200-ton double-deck section went as planned, California Dept. of Transportation inspection crews then reported a crack in an eyebar—a 2-in.-thick, chainlike steel piece—located on another section of the east span. Photo: AP / Wideworld Despite unwelcome discovery, bridge detour opened on Sept. 8 as planned. Over the Labor Day weekend, general contractor
Nobody loved Interstate 64 where it cut through the heart of St. Louis. It was a transportation bottleneck, with outmoded interchanges and crumbling bridges. Built largely between the 1930s and 1960s as U.S. Highway 40, it was rechristened I-64 by federal fiat in 1988 despite its failure to comply with Interstate standards. But when the Missouri Dept. of Transportation proposed in 2000 to rebuild it, worriers came out of the woodwork. And when MoDOT announced in 2006 that it would completely demolish and rebuild 10 miles of the central artery, public opinion went ballistic. Photo: Gateway Constructors Inc. More than
Congress’s fast action on the $787.2-billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in February brought some much-needed cheer to the nation’s transportation contractors. With state DOT budgets withered by the recession, gas prices and financial market upheaval, contractors expected the influx of more than $49.3 billion in immediate highway, transit, and airport funding to reenergize the market and, hopefully, keep them busy until the larger economy begins to rebound. But more than six months after President Obama signed ARRA into law, many in the industry are still waiting for those hoped-for effects to kick in. Photo: Flatiron Washington, N.C., bypass
Applications are in for the first batch of federal high-speed-rail grants financed largely by $8 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. An unofficial round-one tally shows states are seeking about $6.6 billion. That is far below the $102.5 billion in “pre-applications” states filed in July, but it reflects the first round’s emphasis on individual projects that are ready to start. Moreover, with the construction industry struggling, the new applications represent a substantial amount of potential infrastructure work, including bright possibilities for engineering firms. The dollars are expected to be even larger in the next round of applications, which
A rancorous contractor bid dispute has held up a $100-million-plus four-lane widening of Las Vegas’ Interstate 215 Beltway. The contract has been twice awarded and twice taken to court. The Clark County Commission gave locally based Las Vegas Paving Corp. the job after disqualifying the apparent low bidder, Fisher Sand & Gravel Co., Dickinson, N.D., because two of its subcontractors lacked highway construction licenses. Under county rules, the design-bid-build project is typically awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. Fisher’s price was $112.2 million, or $4.6 million less than Las Vegas Paving. On April 22, Fisher sued Clark County over a
State transportation officials are avoiding weeks or even months of wait time in inspecting underwater bridge components by using the latest in sonar imaging technology. The method’s potential will become the focus of a federal study next year. Photo: Randalls Photography Advanced technology helped inspectors get images of underwater bridge piers and footings when diving was too dangerous. This spring’s record floods posed high risks for the 80-year-old Sorlie Bridge, which connects Grand Forks, N.D., and East Grand Forks, Minn. Flowing 30 ft higher than normal, the fast-moving Red River of the North engulfed the 605-ft-long, two-span truss structure’s timber
The Chicago Transit Authority has awarded a construction-management contract to Parsons Brinckerhoff for a rail replacement and tunnel rehabilitation project on the system’s Blue Line subway, which connects the downtown business district with O’Hare International Airport. The $88-million project is one of the first in Chicago to be fully funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It involves replacement of 31,000 existing wooden half ties with new concrete half ties and 6,200 track feet of stone ballast with new concrete slab and direct fixation fasteners. The project also includes the installation of 29,000 ft of new rail
A cathedral-arch bridge—the nation’s longest at 525 meters—is inching toward completion in a rural patch of northern Nevada three years after the original contractor left the project. The 90-m-tall structure, which spans Galena Creek, is part of the $600-million, 8.5-mile Interstate 580 extension between Reno and Carson City, now millions of dollars over budget and four years late. Photo: Massmedia Soaring crossing over Galena Creek is part of delayed I-580 extension. Photo: Massmedia New freeway will ease traffic on busy rural U.S 395. It is the most costly project in state transportation history, requiring pavement maintenance cuts to pay for
Indiana has requested $71.4 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to improve the congested Norfolk Southern rail line that connects Chicago to Detroit. The Indiana Dept. of Transportation has proposed upgrading eight locations between Porter and the Illinois state line that would reduce delay time by 61% and save 752 gallons of fuel each week. � The application says the proposal "addresses the single most delay-prone intercity rail passenger corridor in the country, doing so in a way that provides both stand-alone congestion relief benefits as well as a path towards development of the lane as a
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