Photo Courtesy of WSDOT The 57.3-ft-dia "Bertha" is currently the world's largest tunneling machine. Now being shipped to Seattle in segments, she will begin excavation for the new state Route 99 this summer. Related Links: Here Comes Bertha Alaska Way Viaduct Proceeds Despite Mayor's Opposition When the 57.5-ft-dia earth-pressure-balance tunnel-boring-machine called Bertha reaches Seattle from Japan next month, it will make its debut at a 400-ft-long, 80-ft-wide and 80-ft-deep launch pit that crews have been toiling on for months. The 6,700-ton, 326-ft-long tunneler's arrival will be a key milestone in the $3.1-billion, 12-project program to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.The
Related Links: ASCE 2013 infrastructure report card Infrastructure Facing $1.1-Trillion Funding Gap in 2020, ASCE Says The latest infrastructure “report card” from the American Society of Civil Engineers shows small improvements in the overall condition of America’s infrastructure.The report card, released on March 19 in a digital format, showed that the state of infrastructure in six sectors,—drinking water, wastewater, solid waste, roads, bridges and rail—improved slightly. Those improvements brought the overall grade to a D+, up from a D four years ago.The grades in 2013 range from a high of B- for solid-waste infrastructure to a low of D- for
AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade Indian laborers use machinery to dig at a construction site in Mumbai. India's economic growth slowed to a 5.3% annual rate in last year's first quarter, the lowest in nine years. Meanwhile, inflation has averaged 9.2% a year since the start of 2010. Related Links: Growth in India's Infrastructure Markets Projected Amid PPP Slowdown, India Turns to Cash Contracts Corruption, regulatory bottlenecks and other hurdles have slowed down the pace of infrastructure development in India. Having just released their current budget, however, lawmakers in India are making a strong effort to reach out to investors to help
Photo courtesy of Ministry of Transport and Communications The first phase will include nine freight yards along the rail network, which will extend from Sohar to Duqm, the two largest yards with ports. Related Links: International Contractors Grab Oman Transport Work Oman, Egypt Lead Middle Eastern Push To Upgrade Airports Oman has released a tender for the preliminary-design consulting-engineer contract for the first phase of the Oman national railway network.The bid package, issued under the Ministry of Transport and Communications, is for nine freight yards, which will be key junctions along the initial 1,061-kilometer length of the rail network. The
Related Links: Cracks Delay Floating Bridge Project Test Pontoon Prepares Team For Real-Time Construction Flaws in the design led to cracks during post-tensioning of the first four concrete pontoons built for the replacement of the world's longest floating bridge in Seattle, says the Washington State Dept. of Transportation. The fix could cost tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars and potentially delay the $4.13-billion project.In detailing a report from a blue-ribbon review panel, state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond maintained that the pontoons—designed to a 75-year life cycle—are structurally sound. But the report revealed that five cracks up to .03
Courtesy VDOT rolling down the river The new 2600-ton Gilmerton Bridge lift span floated seven nautical miles from its assembly yard to its final site, passing several movable bridges on the Elizabeth River during the trip. Related Links: http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/hamptonroads/gilmerton_bridge_replacement_project.asp From a joint project risk-management program to extremely large drilled shafts using an oscillator, the $134-million replacement of the Henry G. Gilmerton Bridge in Chesapeake, Va., features many innovations, including erecting components of a new 1,908-ft-long vertical-lift bridge beneath and above a 75-year-old twin bascule bridge.The Gilmerton Bridge carries an average of 35,000 vehicles daily and lifts its bascule 7,500 times
Small port in Kuwait is among the country's planned marine projects. Related Links: Egypt's Orascom Looks To Expand Into Middle East Rail Megaproject: $11-Billion United Arab Emirates Network Port construction is booming in mideastern countries seeking to boost their economies and plan for more energy production or imports.Large jobs are under way or announced in Oman, Turkey, Morocco, Qatar, Kuwait and even Libya, where suspended work in Benghazi and Tripoli is being renegotiated and contracts are progressing, say officials and construction executives.Kuwait Oil Co. has tapped Istanbul-based contractor STFA to build a new $486-million port to handle up to 70
Related Links: Repairs Under Way on Highway Closed by Landslide in the Smoky Mountains Phillips & Jordan Inc. of Robbinsville, N.C., won the contract Feb. 20 and started immediately to replace the 200-ft section of US 441 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that was wiped out by a landslide.First comes an access road to the bottom of the site and removing 27,000 cu yds of excavation, then filling the football-field-size slide area with 40,000 cu yds of crushed stone that will be “sandwiched” in 1.5-ft layers between layers of geogrid, said Dudley Orr, vice president of Phillips &
The Ohio Dept. of Transportation has selected three design and construction teams that will vie to design, construct and partially finance a $330-million vehicular bridge in Cleveland, marking the first public-private partnership ODOT has undertaken since receiving authorization in 2011.Teams selected to submit proposals for one of two replacements for the I-90 Inner Belt span include Kokosing Construction Co., with designer Michael Baker Jr. Inc.; Walsh Construction, with designer URS Corp.; and Trumbull Corp., The Great Lakes Construction Co. and The Ruhlin Co., with designer HDR Engineering Inc.ODOT plans to select a team for the bridge, an east-bound span, by
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