Related Links: The Ten Most Noteworthy Rail Projects: Overview and Related Stories Project: Harbin-Dalian High Speed RailwayCost: $14.4 billionConstruction period: 2007-11 China’s high-speed-rail building program is a bold commitment to increase passenger-carrying capacity on major routes while simultaneously freeing up other lines for additional freight service. One of the routes that is nearing completion is the 904-kilometer line linking the major port of Dalian with Harbin, the commercial hub of northeast China. The project was split into three separate construction contracts. China Railway Group Ltd. built the southernmost section, spanning 377 km from Dalian to Shenyang. China State Construction Engineering
Map by Shem Oirere/ENR Art Department Parsons, a U.S. engineering firm, has been tasked with developing up to 1,000 kilometers of rural roads in Rwanda. A U.S. engineering firm has been tasked with developing up to 1,000 kilometers of rural roads in Rwanda, which represents eastern Africa's fastest-growing economy.Parsons Corp., Pasadena, Calif. won a contract from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to spearhead the new road system, which will help open up the country's agriculturally rich interior districts to crop and livestock markets.Parsons will make an inventory and assess the conditions of the roads as well as
Related Links: The Ten Most Noteworthy Rail Projects: Overview and Related Stories Project: Lanzhou-Chongqing Railway Cost: $11.3 billion Construction Period: 2008-14 Lanzhou is a city of heavy industry and petrochemicals, located on the south bank of the Yellow River in northwest China. With a population of 2.2 million, it is the capital and largest city in Gansu Province. About 800 kilometers to the south, Chongqing, a manufacturing center on the Yangtze River in Sichuan Province, is one of the largest municipalities in China, with a population of 30 million. The Qinling Mountains sit between the two. The Lanzhou-Chongqing Railway project
Related Links: The Ten Most Noteworthy Rail Projects: Overview and Related Stories Project: North-South RailwayCost: $3.5 billionConstruction period: 2007-2013Saudi Arabia, though late to adopt rail service, has embarked on an ambitious program that will feature both freight and passenger service.Its North-South Railway, a 2,400-kilometer-long branching system, will link Saudi Arabia’s northern mineral belt with smelters and a port on the Persian Gulf, enabling the country to better reach export markets. Further, passenger service will connect Riyadh with cities in the north and extend to the Jordanian border.The construction work has been divided into four phases. The Saudi Binladin Group, the
Russian State Railways (RZD) Rail network construction in Libya has been slowed by the rebellion. Related Links: Benguela Railway Promises To Open Angola's Interior China Offers To Build $2-Billion Iranian Rail Link Opening of Harbin-Dalian High-Speed-Rail Line Postponed Rail Network Construction in Libya Stalled by Rebellion Saudi Arabia's North-South Railway Will Upgrade Passenger and Freight $11.3-Billion China Rail Link Tunnels 63% of the Way Rail Megaproject: $11-Billion United Arab Emirates Network Central Asian Rail Link Will Redirect Export Paths Brazilian $3.21-Billion Rail Revitalization Project Tracks for 2012 Arrival India Moves Forward on $90-Billion Industrial Development Plan In 2008, American transportation
Related Links: The Ten Most Noteworthy Rail Projects: Overview and Related Stories Comprehensive National Rail NetworkCost: $5.6 billionConstruction period: 2008-12 (original estimate)Libya's civil war has halted an ambitious plan to build an extensive $5.6-billion rail system designed to bolster both passenger and freight service.The major east-west route would parallel the coast, ultimately stretching 2,300 kilometers from Ras Ejder on the border of Tunisia to Umm Sa’ad on the Egyptian border.The regime awarded separate contracts to Russian and Chinese contractors to complete certain segments. In 2008, crews from RZD, the Russian state railway, began building the 554-km Surt-to-Benghazi segment, which had
The world's busiest land port crossing, at San Ysidro, Calif., reopened its 24 northbound travel lanes from Mexico on Sept. 18, five days after a 50-ft by 50-ft temporary wood platform, meant to catch demolition waste on a $577-million border station renovation, collapsed and rained heavy debris on vehicles and personnel. One construction worker was seriously injured, and 16 other people also were hurt, including three laborers. Concrete, metal supports, wooden planks and a large black tarpaulin damaged 15 vehicles. Rescuers extracted three people from the wreckage.Miller Environmental Inc., Anaheim, Calif., was removing plaster from an administration building set for
Photo courtesy of Geocomp A sampling of one of the sensors on the Twin Span Bridge. Related Links: New Orleans Bridge Raises Bar On Embedded Sensor Technology Well before embedded instrumentation delivered data from a February 2009 lateral load test of a bent and pier of the I-10 Twin Span Bridge in New Orleans—and long before the sensors begin a life of service as long-term structural-health monitoring aids this October—devices cast into the bridge's structure were presenting a wealth of data to the industry.“The instruments that are in the pile foundations had to be placed in the rebar cages for
Photo Courtesy of Caldecott/ Tutor Perini Tutor Perini bores a $214.8-million two-lane Caldecott tunnel. The weak economy has squeezed transportation budgets to the limit. Still, firms that work in the transportation market are finding ways to push forward, diversifying their businesses by sector and region and looking to alternative delivery methods, such as public-private partnerships.Richard Cavallaro, president of Skanska USA Civil, Whitestone, N.Y., says it is hard to plan ahead not knowing when a federal transportation bill will be enacted and with states being financially strapped. While the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has helped sustain active projects, he says
The construction of a casting facility in Aberdeens harbor is a vital component of Seattles planned bridge replacement. Photos courtesy of Washington DOT Crews are nearing completion of the casting basin. A joint-venture team began reconstruction work this month of the longest floating bridge in the world, while two of its members also near completion on a key related facility to build massive pontoons.Omaha-based Kiewit Corp., General Construction Co. of Federal Way, Wash., and Manson Construction, Seattle, began work on Sept. 2 on its $586.5-million contract to rebuild Washington's state Route 520 floating bridge over Lake Washington—the longest in the
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