According to Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney, work on the eyebar will not require a full bridge closure; instead, crews will work overnight, which will require three lanes to close on the upper deck and one lane on the lower deck. The repair and related lane closures will last approximately three weeks, with an additional five weeks possibly needed at a later date. Photo: Caltrans “We would like to thank motorists in advance for their patience during the upcoming lane closures,” says Caltrans Director Randell Iwasaki. “This is the right fix and a long-term one that should keep the 73-year old
A funding delay, a cableway collapse and a death: Construction of the Hoover Dam Bypass is a challenge-filled saga that rivals the building of the historic dam itself. But the light at the end of the canyon is beckoning. North America’s longest single-arch concrete crossing, at 1,960 ft, now soars 88 ft over the Colorado River and is scheduled to open to traffic in November 2010. It will carry vehicles 1,500 ft downstream from Hoover Dam, spanning the Black Canyon at the borders of Nevada and Arizona and answering a need that dates back to the 1960s. Slide Show Photo:
New York State Dept. of Transportation officials swiftly are preparing design concepts for a new crossing to replace the Crown Point Bridge, abruptly closed in October due to unexpectedly high levels of pier deterioration. Meanwhile, contractors are racing to build temporary vehicular ferry-terminal facilities at Lake Champlain between New York and Vermont as a stopgap measure. Photo: AP/Wideworld New York-Vermont crossing was shut down abruptly on Oct. 16 after inspectors found unexpectedly severe pier deterioration, possibly due to ice pressure. + Image NYSDOT, in conjunction with the Vermont Agency of Transportation, on Oct. 16 shut down the 80-year-old, 2,184-ft-long steel
The land rolls like waves as it liquefies beneath the viaduct. As spliced timber piles underpinning the columns lose lateral support, the piles buckle and some viaduct columns drop swiftly out of sight. Utilities rupture, fires break out and roadway decks collapse with shocking speed. Related Links: Simulated Quake Rattles Populace Is it a scene from a new disaster movie? No. It’s a simulation of an engineering model-driven video showing what would happen to the Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct in the case of a serious earthquake. A political storm set off by the Washington State Dept. of Transportation’s release of
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has urged top U.S. Dept. of Transportation officials to weigh in to help end what she termed a "standoff" with the House over the length of a surface transportation bill. Photo: Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) With a current seven-week stopgap highway and transit authorization set to expire Dec. 18, Boxer and leaders of other key Senate committees have lined up behind a further six-month extension. But Boxer said House leaders support much shorter extensions. At a Nov. 18 briefing of her committee on highway funding
Construction is about to start on a 433-m-long bridge with a 117-m-long rising main span for shipping in France’s Garonne River, Bordeaux. Units of Vinci Construction, Paris, will design and build the $187-million bridge over 33 months for the city council. The 3,500-tonne central span will be able to be lifted up 80-m-tall towers. Photo: EGIS-JMI - Virlogeux -Lavigne Et Cheron Architectes - Hardesty & Hanover
Transportation industry executives and lobbyists clearly are frustrated at not being able to gain Washington’s attention to enact long-term funding legislation they claim is critical to improving the sector’s dire outlook, as reflected in new market statistics released on Nov. 13. Related Links: States’ Fiscal Crunch Could Stretch to 2012 The results were released by the Transportation Construction Coalition, a group of 28 contractor and supplier associations and unions in the transportation construction sector. They show that even with this year’s $27-billion federal stimulus infusion for transportation, 63% of 527 sector-company respondents say they have laid off permanent staff this
Smarting from a second emergency closure of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge in two months, the California Dept. of Transportation is exploring long-term repairs for a cracked eyebeam until the crossing’s $6.3-billion modernization is completed in 2013. Caltrans engineers are considering replacing part or all of the truss system that has a cracked eyebeam, discovered by inspectors on the 73-year-old cantilevered eastern span during a Labor Day closure. Rancho Cordova, Calif.-based C.C. Myers Inc. was installing a 288-ft detour ramp as part of the reconstruction when inspectors found the 1½ in. crack in a 2-in.-thick, chain-like steel beam. The cracked
Emergency teams worked to retrieve the bodies of four of five workers who died after falling 15 meters in a bridge falsework collapse on Nov. 7 in the tiny Pyrenees principality of Andorra. Six more were injured. The accident occurred at the western portal of the recently completed Dos Valires tunnel. The men were working on falsework for a twin-deck, partially cable-stayed bridge being built as an access to the 2.9-kilometer-long tunnel from an existing highway. Workers reportedly had been pouring concrete for several hours when the falsework collapsed. No official cause has been given as investigations continue. The bridge’s
The scheduled December groundbreaking of the first phase of the $5.5 billion Honolulu Rail Transit Project has been delayed by at least a month, says project spokesman Scott Ishikawa. “Based on the time needed to get participating agencies to review the draft environmental impact statement and the time needed for the federal and state level to approve the final EIS, we decided to push back construction until the end of January,” he says. In late October, the city awarded the $482.9-million first-phase contract to Omaha-based Kiewit Pacific Co. The 6.5-mile design-build project is expected to take three years to complete.
RSS
