The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has received almost $10 billion in applications for the $2.4 billion in federal high-speed rail funds that Florida rejected. Related Links: Amtrak Gateway Project News Release DOT Secretary Ray LaHood said on April 6 that 24 states, the District of Columbia and Amtrak submitted more than 90 applications for the turned-back rail money. The deadline for submitting requests was April 4. DOT now will begin to review the proposals. The department said that it had not yet determined when it will announce the winning applications. The funds became available when Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R)
Two months after a 110-lb light fixture fell onto a roadway along Boston’s Big Dig highway project, Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation inspectors have found some corrosion in the 23,000 lighting fixtures that line the Central Artery tunnel. In the wake of the resignation of a highway administrator following a delay in notifying the public about the fixture, the agency’s operational procedures are under scrutiny “I have acknowledged our failure to alert the public in a timely manner and the lapse in our internal communications, which we are currently working to address,” state transportation Secretary Jeffrey Mullan says. “We are continuing
The proposed $6-billion, DesertXpress high-speed passenger train project recently cleared its first major hurdle with the March 24 release of its final environmental impact statement. Circle Point, San Francisco, prepared the report on behalf of the Federal Railroad Administration. A record of decision is expected this spring. Photo: US DOT Fares would be $50 to ride the steel-wheel trains DesertXpress will follow the Interstate 15 alignment between Victorville, Calif. and Las Vegas, using existing right-of-way either along the median or roadside, and will build two passenger stations, a maintenance-storage-operation facility and three electrical substations. The project’s overhead catenary electric powered
The Quindao Haiwan Bridge, an unusual branching structure crossing Jiaozhou Bay, was completed in January. It spans the mouth of the bay but branches off approximately 20 kilometers to the north to connect with Qingdao Liuting International Airport. When the three legs of the bridge converge, the exit ramps lead to overpasses typical of highway interchanges, except this interchange is located in the middle of Jiaozhou Bay. The contractor, Shandong High Speed Group Co. Ltd., claims Quindao Haiwan is the first bridge with an interchange over water. Although its total length of 41.6 km exceeds Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain Bridge by
Breaking ground on Feb. 28 in a ceremony attended by Turkey Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, a 5.4-kilometer twin-deck tunnel crossing beneath the Bosphorus’ seabed will join the European and Asian sides of Istanbul at a cost of $1.4 billion. Istanbul is the largest metropolitan city in Europe and third-largest city in the world, with a population of 13.2 million. The Istanbul Strait Road Tube Crossing, or the Eurasia Tunnel, will be designed, built, financed and operated by Avrasya Tüneli Isletme Insaat ve Yatirim Anonim Sirketi (ATAS), a partnership of Yap? Merkezi from Turkey and SK E&C, Kukdong, Samwhan Corp. and
India is developing an ambitious plan to boost the country’s fledgling airport infrastructure. Economic planners estimate the voracious appetite for commercial air travel will require an investment of about $30 billion by 2020. Now at 100 million passengers per year, traffic is expected to reach 180 million by 2015 and 300 million by 2020, according to Ministry of Civil Aviation estimates. More than 20 proposals are currently under consideration for greenfield airports, and some $3 billion is expected to be spent on the sector in the next three years. The to-do list includes the newly approved Mumbai Airport, expected to
Construction is poised to start in July on Uganda’s first-ever toll road. China is financing the $350-million project, which will be built under a public-private partnership for highway transportation management. Photo: Courtesy UNRA The current road to Entebbe Airport has heavy vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Map: Justin Reynolds The new toll road will connect the city of Kampala with the Entebbe International Airport. The 54-km highway, which will link the capital city of Kampala to the Entebbe International Airport, is set to start in July with financing from the Export-Import Bank of China. Construction is pending approval by the Ugandan
The state of Massachusetts is seeking damages from the manufacturer of a 110-lb light fixture that fell onto a Central Artery tunnel roadway in early February. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority informed the public about the incident last week. “One of the 23,000 light fixtures in the Central Artery Tunnel system fell onto the roadway on the morning of February 8,” says a spokesperson for the MBTA. Although there were no injuries or property damage, the incident has reignited concerns about safety of the $2 billion project. The Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation claims it immediately began to inspect all of
The Government of the Northwest Territories, Canada, has reached a settlement with individuals from the Deh Cho Bridge Corp. over questions of unpaid work on the failed design of the Deh Cho Bridge, a 1,045-meter span crossing the Mackenzie River near Fort Providence. After work was delayed one year due to a substandard design, Andrew Gamble, former project manager, and Jivko Jivkov, former design adviser, were removed from the project when the government took over from the private Deh Cho Bridge Corp. They filed a claim for $1.3 million. Earl Blacklock, a government spokesman, says the mediated settlement, while undisclosed,
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.
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