The Federal Highway Administration has given the Texas Dept. of Transportation a green light to proceed with construction of the West Rail project in Brownsville, an estimated $85-million effort to relocate a Union Pacific Railroad line out of the heart of the city and away from downtown Matamoros, Mexico. The project is a cooperative effort involving officials in both cities, the state agency, Cameron County and the Mexican government. On the U.S. side, improvements would relocate the existing railway from the U.S. 77-83 rail junction to a switching yard farther west, routing it south to the Rio Grande River just
The desire for federal 'TIGER' grants shows no signs of fading in transportation circles. Photo: U.S. Dept. of Transportation LaHood's DOT is sorting through almost 1,000 applications The U.S. Dept. of Transportation reported on Sept. 24 that the second round of its Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants had drawn more than $19 billion in applications for the $600 million it has available to award. A DOT spokesperson says that the department hasn't set an award date yet for the 'TIGER II' round. In all, DOT said it received almost 1,000 applications for the TIGER II competition, from every state,
Poor management of available resources at the Virginia Dept. of Transportation resulted in $877 million in transportation funds left unspent during the last two fiscal years, says an independent audit commissioned by Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R). Photo: Virginia Governor’s office Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell wants recently uncovered transportation funds contracted by Dec. 1. Some of that funding carried over from previous fiscal years will be used to help VDOT award $800 to $900 million in contracts by Dec. 1. “This audit demonstrates that available funding has not been effectively used in the past few years,” McDonnell said Sept. 23.
Airports in Southern California, one of the nation’s most heavily populated regions, are building as much and as “green” as they can with limited space and tight budgets. Modernization projects at the San Diego, Long Beach and Los Angeles airports are requiring engineers to think creatively. Photo: Courtesy of Paragon Shuffling of L.A. airport facilities, including a new taxiway, is a complex puzzle. Rendering: Courtesy Of SUNDT San Diego airport’s outdoor ticketing and check-in lobbies will take advantage of the region’s year-round mild weather. The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority’s $1-billion green-build program includes a 445,000-sq-ft expansion of Terminal
Paolo Soleri, a renowned 91-year-old architect and urban theorist, finally will see a bridge he designed open on Dec. 11. Photo: Stephen Krystek The cable-stayed pedestrian bridge will traverse a canal in downtown Scottsdale, Ariz. The Phoenix office of Howard S. Wright Constructors began work in March on the $3-million Soleri Bridge and Plaza in downtown Scottsdale, Ariz. Local firms Douglas Architects, structural engineer PK Associates and landscape architect Steve Martino & Associates worked on the design with Soleri’s Cosanti Foundation, Paradise Valley. The 130-ft-long cable-stayed pedestrian bridge crosses the Arizona Canal from the Waterfront District on the north side
Utah’s recent best-value infrastructure procurement for a $1.1-billion highway expansion and reconstruction came with a controversial, unexpected cost: a $13-million payout to the second-place proposer to end its protest of the award. Photo: Courtesy of UDOT Critics question UDOT Executive Director John Njord�s decision to make a big payment to team whose proposal came in second on major infrastructure best-value competition. + Image Photo: Courtesy of UDOT “In relative terms, it’s a small amount of money,” UDOT Executive Director John Njord says. “A lawsuit would have prevented us from being as creative as possible in the design-build process. “This was
A pedestrian bridge under construction collapsed Sept. 21 near Delhi, India's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium�the site of the Commonwealth Games scheduled to begin Oct 2. Twenty-seven workers with Chandigarh-based PNR Infra. were injured, some after jumping off the collapsing span. Some of the laborers were hurt jumping from the structure as it came down. The $2.3-million steel arch-supported footbridge was 90 meters long and about 1 m wide. The bridge was being constructed by the north Indian city. Government agency Rakesh Mishra, Public Works Dept. engineer-in-chief, says it appears the ramp seat was not capable of carrying the slab weight. “The
Responding to federal concerns about potential cost overruns that could impact promised project funding, officials in charge of the $8.7-billion Hudson River rail link between New Jersey and Manhattan have halted project procurement and land acquisition for 30 days as they review costs. Officials appear confident that costs for the Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) project are set to stay on track in the current competitive construction market. In a Sept. 9 statement, James Weinstein, executive director of project leader New Jersey Transit, announced the month-long halt after completion of a five-month cost study by the Federal Transit Administration
Design firm HNTB, Kansas City, Mo., and contractor Walsh Construction, Chicago, have been awarded a design-build contract from the Ohio Dept. of Transportation to construct the first of two new spans that together will become Cleveland’s new Innerbelt Bridge. The twin-structure bridge will replace the existing 51-year-old, single-structure Innerbelt Bridge, which will be demolished. The firms’ work on the five-lane $278.4-million first span is expected to begin next spring and be completed by fall 2013. Construction of the eastbound section will be a separate contract awarded after the westbound span is completed.
Despite improperly placed concrete and a software design issue, the Rhode Island Dept. of Transportation and its contractor are anticipating that construction of the new $163.7-million Sakonnet River Bridge will stay on budget and on schedule. Photo: Courtesy RIDOT Contractor is repairing errors in concrete pours and girder design. The Sakonnet Bridge, a 2,065-ft steel-truss bridge, carries nearly 40,000 cars per day on Routes 24 and 138 between Portsmouth and Tiverton in eastern Rhode Island. Weight limits have been reduced to 18 tons, which leaves out large trucks. Construction of the replacement, a steel-tub-girder design, began in 2009, with completion
RSS
