Federal highway and transit programs will have their authorizations extended through Dec. 18, thanks to a stopgap spending package that Congress has approved. Final congressional action came on Oct. 29 when the Senate cleared the package by a 72-28 vote. That followed House passage earlier in the day, by a 247-178 tally. The measure also provides full fiscal year 2010 appropriations for Interior Dept. and Environmental Protection Agency programs and extends funding through Dec. 18 for many other accounts for which Congress has yet to pass 2010 spending bills. The new continuing resolution was necessary because Congress has passed only
For the second time in two months, crews are scrambling to install an emergency eyebar repair on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The original fix made over Labor Day weekend consisted of a steel saddle brace wrapping around a broken beam of the steel truss. That brace snapped during the windy Oct. 27 evening commute, dropping a 5,000-lb crossbeam and steel connectors into traffic and closing the bridge down indefinitely. Photo: Caltrans Photo: Caltrans Related Links: Unexpected Bay Bridge Crack Slightly Delays Reopening As of Oct. 28, crews with North Highlands, Calif.-based MCM Construction Inc. were dealing with high wind
Osceola County, Fla., has overhauled its troubled roadbuilding program by hiring firms that typically do vertical construction management. Staffing is the problem. Roadwork in the county had increased sevenfold while public-works department staff went from 240 to 190. Twenty months ago, the department was more than $386 million behind in putting projects out for bid and faced the prospect of returning impact fees to developers. Several projects were over budget or stuck at 30% design for years. “We have one of the most aggressive programs in the country, and we are passionate about construction management,” says new public-works administrator Ken
Now that high-speed rail is considered “sexy” and politically supported in the U.S., engineers and suppliers are eager to seize upon potential project opportunities. But they must choose carefully from a variety of technologies, methods and financial models found in the rest of the world. “We are in the fourth generation of high-speed trains globally,” said Anthony Perl, professor of urban studies at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, at a high-speed rail conference held Oct. 22-23 in Washington, D.C. “The biggest obstacle in the U.S. is where to put high-speed rail and where to build it. We have to
South Korea’s 12.3-kilometer Incheon Bridge has opened to traffic on time, 52 months after the roughly $1.6-billion privately financed contract was signed. Linking Yeongjong Island and Incheon City, the crossing includes a 1.48-km-long cable-stayed bridge with an 800-meter steel box-girder main span. U.K.-based Amec PLC was project manger and holds shares in the crossing’s developer, Incheon Bridge Co. Samsung Corp. led the turnkey joint venture working to a design by Canada’s Buckland & Taylor Ltd. and detailed by Japan’s Chodai Co. Ltd. Photo: AMEC
The Los Angeles airport board on Oct. 19 awarded two contracts worth $1.26 billion to reconfigure Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport. The project will be built by Walsh Austin Joint Venture, Los Angeles, and is to be completed by 2013. A $545-million contract includes building nine new boarding gates. A $584.2-million contract covers security work.
After a year’s delay, the Florida Dept. of Transportation and a concessionaire have closed on a $900-million public-private partnership that will create a pair of 3,900-ft-long, 41-ft-dia tunnels connecting to the Port of Miami. Last month, FDOT, Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami finalized an agreement in which the concessionaire, called Miami Access Tunnel, will design, build, finance, operate and maintain the project, using its own equity to fund half. Bouygues Civil Works Florida Inc. will lead the $607-million construction portion of the job, with engineering assistance from Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Pasadena, Calif. FDOT will repay the concessionaire
Anna Bligh, Queensland, Australia’s state prime minister, formally opened Brisbane’s $58-million Kurilpa “tensegrity” pedestrian and bicycle bridge on Oct. 4. Local design-build contractor Baulderstone Pty. Ltd. completed the 470-meter-long crossing, with a 120-m-long main span, to a design by Brisbane-based Cox Rayner Architects and the local office of Arup Engineers. The primary structure comprises a mesh of cables tensioned to compressive tube steel struts. Related Links: ASHRAE Developing Manuals for New 'Green' Standards Jacobs Gets Long-Term Amtrak Infrastructure Improvement Job Corps Reorganizes Mideast Operations AP1000 Reactor Design Issues Concern NRC New Island for Bahrain
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Pasadena, Calif., has signed a contract with Amtrak to provide program-management and construction-management services for more than 100 infrastructure improvement projects at over 360 locations across the U.S. The contract could possibly exceed $560 million and is being funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Jacobs will oversee in part or in full the design and construction of projects such as maintenance facility upgrades, bridge replacements, track work, security enhancements and station improvements. Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm says the contract, which does not include “higher-speed” corridors, calls for all projects to be completed by Feb.
It’s been a turbulent ride, but developers and builders of the nation’s first major greenfield airport to be built since Denver’s in 1995 are gearing up for a final landing in Panama Bay County, Fla. Lawsuits and an ongoing contractor dispute notwithstanding, officials with the Panama City-Bay County Airport Authority still plan on a May completion of the $330-million airport, envisioned as a crucial spur for future economic growth in Florida’s panhandle. Photo: Panama City-Bay County Airport Authority New airport in Panama Bay County was conceived as a project to expand business opportunities in the Florida panhandle. The 4,000-acre airport
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