Morocco’s state railroad company, ONCF, has awarded a design management and supervision contract for 49 months of civil construction of the estimated $2.3-billion, 200-kilometers Tangiers-Kentira high-speed line to Paris-based Systra S.A., with local partners. The project, backed by the French government and companies, is part of the plan for 1,500 km of fast track by 2030.
As the California High Speed Rail Authority gains a new chief operating officer, a May report released by the state auditor warns of potential delays in the authority’s planned $45-billion project due to inadequate planning, oversight and contract management. The report warns that the authority hasn’t identified enough non-state matching funds, which are required to access the $9.9 billion OK’d in the voter-approved 2008 California bond that launched the project. The project has received $2.25 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Construction plans call for 2.5 times more state and federal funding to be spent by 2013 than
Unveiled on April 22, the final design for the $1.5-billion Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco will feature high-level seismic and environmental elements. The five-story glass-and-steel station, billed as the Grand Central Station of the West, will consolidate 12 transit operations, including anticipated high-speed rail. Photo: Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects The proposed transit hub would be a 1,400-ft-long structural tube with moment frames. The Transbay Joint Powers Authority hub, designed by New Haven, Conn.-based Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, includes a place-marker for an iconic 1,200-ft-tall tower. Part of a $4-billion mixed-used project, the tower is still the subject of financial
Florida lawmakers passed a $70-billion 2010 budget on the final day of the legislative session on April 30, but raided the state Transportation Trust Fund of $160 million to help fill a revenue gap. “It’s going to defer some more projects, no question about it,” says Bob Burleson, president of the Florida Transportation Builders’ Association in Tallahassee. Kevin Thibault, Florida Dept. of Transportation, says “it’s too early to tell” how the lost revenue will affect planned projects, but it will likely push out start dates. Burleson says the delays could add up to as much as $400 million in deferred
New designs, unveiled April on 27 for three bridges, shaves $45 million off Fort Worth’s Trinity River Vision project costs. The $909-million urban waterfront plan aims to connect 88 miles of the river and its surrounding communities. The original total cost for the three bridges was about $155 million. Projected cost using the original design, by Bing Thom, Vancouver, was $114 million, not including another $41 million for costs including land acquisitions. The city of Fort Worth worked with a new design team to present a citizen advisory group with cheaper options. Lead designer Miguel Rosales, president of Rosales +
The recession has enabled the California Dept. of Transportation to save approximately $2.4 billion in construction costs for major projects since 2006 due to strong competition. Some bids are coming in at 40% below engineers’ estimates, says Kris Kuhl, supervising transportation engineer and official chief for contract awards and services at Caltrans. Overall, Kuhl says that so far this fiscal year, project bids are averaging 33.8% under estimates. The savings, obviously, means that Caltrans can push for more transportation construction starts, Kuhl adds. “Depending on the nature of the work, we also are seeing a record number of bidders,” he
International engineers and contractors may be eyeing China as the world’s largest consumer market, but the Chinese government still wants domestic industry firms to do some market-related globetrotting of their own, particularly in rail construction. Photo: Bombardier Corp. China purchased more than 60 Canadian-made high-speed-rail cars that will ride on domestic and global lines Chinese firms aim to design and build. Photo: Lou Rocco / ENR China Rail Construction top economist Shang Qingxi says the firm is now the country’s largest contractor. The state-owned China Railway Construction Corp. (CRCC) is now China’s largest and fastest-growing contractor, says Shang Qingxi, deputy
Engineering News-Record’s Senior Editor Tom Sawyer, and Jenna McKnight, deputy news director for McGraw-Hill Construction, spent a week in Haiti in mid-April staying with a local family and traveling throughout the Port-au-Prince area to meet with Haitian refugees and others already engaged in the start of reconstruction, as well as with representatives of foreign aid organizations and U.S. officials. One long-sought document that came to hand during the visit is the Haitian government’s Action Plan for National Recovery and Development, described below. Navy Capt. Jim Wink said, “Right now they have the attention of the world.” Wink, chief engineer for
Orient Express Hotels Ltd., the Bermuda-based luxury travel and real estate firm, plans to build and operate a $2-billion, 528-mile freight railway line that will extend its railway network in the Andean country to Brazil, the company’s Peru manager, Laurent Carrasset, said. Orient Express Hotels is best known in Peru for operating the train service from Peru to the famous ruins of Machu Picchu, but the company also has a significant presence in regular railroad interests, recently completing a $25-million upgrade of a rail line serving Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.’s copper mine in southern Peru.
Whitestone, N.Y.-based Skanska USA Civil was the apparent low bidder to replace the southernmost 1-mile leg of Seattle’s state Route 99 Alaskan Way Viaduct—the first portion of a larger project. The bids, opened on April 14, are for work near Seattle’s sports stadiums and shipping port. The $114.57-million bid was 25% under the Washington State Dept. of Transportation engineer’s estimate. The project will begin this summer with removal of elevated viaduct sections.
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