The aviation industry has been hit by its share of turbulence in the past few years. Many airports had to defer projects or downsize capital improvement programs after revenue streams were curtailed sharply by upheaval in the airline industry, shaky credit markets, surging oil prices and decreased passenger travel. Photo: Chicago O’hare Airport The Chicago City Council recently approved $1 billion in bonds for O’Hare airport’s modernization program. The funds will be used primarily for runway projects, which will be bid by the end of 2011. Related Links: The Top Owners Sourcebook Complete Report Overview: No Quick Fix For Battered
Thomas Enterprises’ default on the 240-acre Sacramento (Calif.) Railyards infill project in late October returned ownership to lender Inland American Real Estate Trust. The lender says it will keep the project on track and pay infrastructure contractors who have been waiting as long as six months. Oak Brook, Ill.-based Inland American initiated foreclosure proceedings against Atlanta-based Thomas Enterprises in June after the developer defaulted on $187 million in loans. When the property went to foreclosure auction on Oct. 22 with a minimum opening bid of $50 million, no one bid, effectively handing control over to the lender, which already manages
Republicans' takeover of the House and gains in the Senate could make major funding increases in infrastructure bills harder to achieve in 2011. With some races still unsettled as of the afternoon of Nov. 3, the GOP had scored a net increase of 60 seats in the House, giving the party a total of 239. Democrats hung on to the Senate, though their majority had dwindled to 51, from 59 prior to the election. Among the Democratic casualties were some House committee chairmen, including James Oberstar (Minn.), head of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and a fixture on that panel
New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie’s Oct. 27 decision to spike a major new commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson River, which was set to be the largest U.S. public-works project, is causing ripple effects across the region and the country. Industry proponents are hoping for stronger support for similar but still-viable projects from Congress and from U.S. employers. Backers of the New Jersey rail link, called Access to the Region’s Core, could not secure Christie’s support because he feared the state would be on the hook for cost overruns some said would boost the project price to as much as
The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has pumped another $2.5 billion into the high-speed-rail funding pipeline and is increasing the flow of actual obligations from its $8-billion first rail round. The moves are good news for the states that won grants and companies pursuing the work. However, whether the new Congress will approve another installment of Photo: California High Speed Rail Authority California won the largest amount, $901.6 million, in the second round of U.S. DOT rail grants. high-speed-rail (HSR) aid in 2011 remains an open question. In announcing the winners of the $2.5-billion round-two competition on Oct. 28, DOT Secretary
California and Florida together have won nearly 70% of the $2.5 billion for high-speed rail that the U.S. Dept. of Transportation's awarded in its second round of funds for the new program. Related Links: DOT Sketches Plan For High-Speed Rail 'Excited' High-Speed Rail Builders Get Ready The awards, which DOT announced on Oct. 28, would help fund 54 projects in 23 states. The latest awards follow an initial, $8 billion in DOT high-speed-rail aid, whose winners were selected in January. The first-round money came from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. For the newly announced grants, DOT received 132
The reprieve for a major new commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson River, once set to be the largest public works project in the U.S., never arrived. Proponents of the megaproject, estimated at $8.7 billion, failed to convince New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie (R) that the state would not have to make up cost overruns that some claimed would boost the total price of the project to $13.7 billion. “In the end, my decision is not changed,” Christie said. “I cannot place upon the citizens of the State of New Jersey an open-ended letter of credit.” Christie emphasized his objection
The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority has selected the team of Delaware River Stevedores, Philadelphia, and Hyundai Merchant Marine Shipping Agency Inc. to develop a 119-acre site; the resulting Southport Marine Terminal will try to attract commercial container vessels that will be using the expanded Panama Canal to reach East Coast markets. + Image Photo: PRPA Before construction can begin on Philadelphia’s first new marine terminal in a half-century, however, the developers must put together a facilities design and financing plan for the project, estimated to cost $250 million. The developers also will ensure that the first phase of the dredging
Battling floods, difficult soils and the environmentally sensitive nature of the Amazon rainforest, crews are building a 3,600-meter-long, $400-million bridge with a 400-m-long cable-stayed central section over the Negro River using a 400-barge working platform. The project, marked by a death and environmental controversy, is intended to boost economic development in the Amazon. Brazil’s Manaus-Iranduba Bridge, scheduled for completion by year’s end, will straddle the river close to where the waterway merges with the Amazon River. The span will create a land link between the city of Manaus and the town of Iranduba as well as 30 other, smaller municipalities.
A $4-billion-plus highway that includes what will be one of the world’s longest highway tunnels will soon be under construction along the west side of Stockholm, Sweden. Image: Courtesy of Foster + Partners A rendering of the winning Slussen master plan to revitalize the waterfront area. + Image image: Courtesy of Vägverket. The route for the Stockholm Bypass Project, which will include one of the world’s longest road tunnels, skirts the city’s west side. Related Links: Foster+Partners Slussen Masterplan slideshow Project for Public Spaces blog: “Is Stockholm in Danger of Losing Its Waterfront?” Vägverket’s official site Stockholm Traffic Bypass Gets
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