North Carolina Dept. of Transportation officials hope to resume erection work on the $36.6-million Oak Island Bridge project before the end of July, once concerns about cracks found in five concrete girders are alleviated. Work on the bridge halted in early July for the second time in eight months while prime contractor Barnhill Contracting Co., Tarboro, N.C., validates the quality of the suspect girders, four of which were placed. Photo: NCDOT Bulb-tee girders are concern. The bridge is part of a new 4.5-mile-long link connecting Oak Island to the mainland, south of Wilmington in Brunswick County. It consists of 160-ft-long
The Michigan Dept. of Transportation hopes to expedite rebuilding of a new overpass over Interstate 75 north of Detroit, to replace a five-lane steel-girder structure that collapsed on July 15 from a fire caused by a tanker truck that crashed into it. Posen Construction Inc., Detroit, removed debris in a $78,000 contract, says MDOT spokesman Robert Morosi. Locally based Cadillac Asphalt LLC removed the top 3 in. of asphalt on I-75 and put in 450 tons of new pavement under a $90,000 contract. The highway was reopened on July 20. MDOT will seek bids for a new overpass in September.
High-speed rail is red-hot. The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has been flooded with proposals seeking a piece of the $8 billion it received for high-speed rail grants in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. However, the potential plans far outstrip DOT’s ARRA rail bank account. DOT’s Federal Rail-road Administration reported on July 16 it had received 278 rail-grant “pre-applications” totaling $102.5 billion. Some applicants may not win grants, but more money may be on the way. A House committee has recommended an additional $4 billion for high-speed rail in regular 2010 appropriations. Photo: California high speed rail authority California’s $40-billion
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has introduced a bill that would repair the looming revenue hole in the Highway Trust Fund. Baucus's bill, introduced July 20, would provide a total of $26.8 billion in new revenue for the trust fund, with $22 billion designed for the fund's highway account and $4.8 billion for its transit account. Photo: Senate Finance Committee Finance Committee Chairman Baucus (L) hopes to avert shortfall in trust fund. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has said that the highway account will require a $20- billion infusion over the next 18 months, or DOT would have to
Demand for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants for high-speed rail far outstrips the $8 billion available. The U.S. Dept. of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration reported on July 16 that it had received 278 "pre-applications" for the rail grants, with applicants requesting a total of $102 billion. The department expects to award the first batch of economic-stimulus rail grants in the fall. In another sign of the red-hot interest in the fast trains, the House Appropriations Committee on July 17 included $4 billion for high-speed rail in its fiscal 2010 transportation spending bill. That quadruples the amount President Obama requested.
The Senate commerce committee has scheduled a vote July 21 on a two-year Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, which includes an increase in airport construction grants, but makes no changes in the current aviation user-fee system. Photo: Office of Sen. Jay Rockefeller Chairman Rockefeller says bill would keep aviation user fees at current levels Related Links: House Passes Three-Year FAA Bill With Hike for Construction Funds The measure, introduced July 14 by Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), would authorize a total of $34.5 billion over the fiscal 2010-2011 period. Of that, FAA's Airport Improvement Program construction grants would receive $8.1
The contractor for the $453-million steel-superstructure portion of the widening of the Huey P. Long Bridge in New Orleans is working out the last details of an erection sequence that is faster, safer and interferes less with motor and marine traffic than the stick-build sequence the owner originally proposed. Photo: HNTB Piers have been enlarged and new bracing added to prepare for widened spans. Photo: Angelle Bergeron / ENR Related Links: Span Readied To Receive Steel: A Bridge Grows in New Orelans MTI, a joint venture of Massman Construction Co., Kansas City; Traylor Bros. Inc., Evansville, Ind.; and IHI Inc.,
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has approved a bill that would extend the federal-aid highway program for 18 months, authorizing $61.5 billion over that period. The panel cleared the measure on July 15 by an 18-1 vote. Only Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) voted against it. Photo: Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Majority Boxer kept bill "clean" of policy-related provisions The extension would begin on Sept. 30, when the current multi-year surface transportation bill--the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU)--will lapse. It would keep authorizations at the fiscal 2009 levels, providing $41
Engineers and up to 2,000 workers in London have been stitching together and modernizing sections of three 19th-century urban railroads—two defunct and one live—to close a gap of under 3 km in the northeast corner of the city’s emerging orbital route. Slide Show Photo: Peter Reina / ENR A refurbished arch viaduct. Related Links: New Urban Rail Link: Threading an Historic Cityscape Over $1 billion is the expected end cost for the three-year project extending and improving this short stretch of Victorian-era infrastructure in the crowded metropolis. “It is a very complex project because here you are dealing with old
A new team is taking over at the Federal Highway Administration, as debate heats up about the Highway Trust Fund’s problems and legislation to reauthorize surface transportation programs. The Senate on July 10 confirmed former Arizona Dept. of Transportation Director Victor M. Mendez as FHWA administrator. Mendez served as ADOT’s director from 2001 until February 2009.
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