A House committee has cleared a four-year aviation reauthorization bill that would provide a boost for airport construction grants and a hike in passenger facility charges, as an airport group says capital needs continue to climb. But with a temporary Federal Aviation Administration authorization set to lapse March 31, another extension is likely. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on March 5 approved a bill that would authorize $70 billion for FAA over the 2009-2012 period. It includes $16.2 billion for FAA's Airport Improvement Program, which provides grants to fund runways, taxiways and other infrastructure. Under the bill, AIP would
A banking consortium agreed to provide financing for a nearly $1.8-billion toll lane project in Florida. The Florida Dept. of Transportation signed off on an agreement for I 595 Express, LLC to finance, build and operate the $1.796-billion Interstate 595 Corridor Improvement Project, after concessionaire ACS Infrastructure Development of Spain secured financing from an international banking consortium. Image Photo: RS&J Three express toll lanes will be added to I-595. “For a major infrastructure project to get its financing together in the current climate is a big deal,” says Gerry O’Reilly, director of transportation development for FDOT district 4. Late last
Three international consortiums submitted bids on Tuesday to design and build the new sets of locks for the ongoing $5.2-billion expansion of the Panama Canal. Photo: C.J. Schexnayder/ENR A cargo ship enters the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. Photo: Panama Canal Authority A computer illustration of the proposed locks for the Panama Canal third lane expansion project. Officials with the Panama Canal Authority – the quasi-governmental organization that oversees the waterway’s administration often known by its Spanish-language acronym, ACP – accepted bids in a ceremony in Panama. The canal authority has previously projected the lock
A switch to steel and six weeks of swift redesign saved a city’s dream of a signature pedestrian crossing with a 325-ft main span over 10 lanes of Interstate 280 in Silicon Valley. The first cable-stayed crossing over a freeway in California, the city of Cupertino’s Mary Avenue Bridge seemed doomed in 2007 after a concrete design received two bids double the $6 million budget. But thanks to the city calling on key industry contacts, it is slated to open next month. Photo: The City Of Cupertino Six weeks of redesign and two nights for tower erection mark a fast-track
Rehabilitation of a 368-ft-long,70-year-old Warren through-truss bridge in Westfield, Mass., is now a major urban revitalization project that includes three bridges and a half-acre of parkland, as crews deal with live trains, endangered mussels and sub-zero temperatures. “Originally, in 1994, we were just studying the old bridge,” says Mark Ennis, project manager for STV Inc., New York City, the principal architectural and engineering firm for the $70-million project. “We found it could be rehabbed. The work would involve replacing the deck system and some strengthening of truss members, repainting and updating of the bearing systems.” Graphic: STV Inc. Warren truss
The Texas Transportation Commission Thursday conditionally awarded the LBJ Development Partners, a private-public partnership, a contract to finance, design, construct, operate and maintain the $4-billion, 13-mile LBJ-635 corridor in Dallas. The PPP’s main partner is Spanish toll road developer Cintra, which will lead the design and construction team. The 55-year contract is expected to be finalized in two months. The project could begin as early as mid-2010 with completion expected in four to five years. The design will enable the new highway to be constructed while minimizing the need for additional right of way, according to the Texas Dept. of
When Florida pioneer and rail baron Henry Flagler pushed his Florida East Coast Railway south to Key West in the early 1900s, his engineers and laborers gave little thought to the environmental impact of their dredging and filling. That wasn’t the approach taken by the engineers and contractors now punch-listing a seven-mile-long reconstruction of a stretch of what became the Overseas Highway. They went out of their way to protect many species of aquatic life, taking care, among other things, not to rock the world of the crocodiles that inhabit the waters. Slide Show Photo: Granite Construction The new roadway
Federal funding for surface transportation projects should migrate from the traditional petroleum fuel-based tax to a mileage-based user fee by 2020, according to a 15-member commission appointed by Congress two years ago. The bipartisan group released its final report Feb. 25 with recommendations for overhauling the highway trust fund, which is due for reauthorization later this year. The National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission includes financial experts, lawyers, politicians and transportation industry leaders such as Elliot Sander, chief executive officer of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Jeffrey C. Crowe, chairman of Landstar System, Inc. “We were charged with
For years, a higher-speed rail route between Chicago and St. Louis "has been a construction season or two away from reality," says Rick Harnish, executive director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association. Pleasantly surprised by the $8-billion pot created in the final stimulus package for high-speed rail, he says, "Hopefully this will put it over the edge." Photo: California High Speed Rail Authority High-speed rail projects get $8 billion, up from zero in the House version of the bill. High-speed rail is the surprise winner in the $787-billion package, which includes $48 billion for transportation infrastructure. "It was a
Bart Ney gets concerned calls from people just about every day. They see the steel trusses starting to cross San Francisco Bay between Yerba Buena Island to the west and the new 1.2-mile-long precast concrete Skyway to the east, alongside the existing eastern steel truss span of the old Bay Bridge. They wonder why the trusses don’t look at all like the striking self anchored assymetrical suspension span they saw in the renderings. Slide Show Susan Lohwasser / ENR A temporary bridge will take shape this year to carry segments of new self-anchored suspension span until cable arrives. Related Links:
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