The hunt is on for a share of $1.5 billion in U.S. Dept. of Transportation discretionary grants created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The new program, which DOT calls Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants, is aimed at projects that “will have a significant impact on the nation, a metropolitan area or a region,” the measure says. David Bauer, American Road and Transportation Builders Association senior vice president, says ARRA “basically had layers of activity.” For highways, the first layer was quick-starting projects like paving jobs, whose funds were obligated by July. Second-layer projects’ money must be
A federal district court judge in Newark, N.J., dismissed a lawsuit brought by Ronald Schiavone, former co-owner of heavy contractor Schiavone Construction Co., Secaucus, N.J., claiming he was cheated by his former partner, Raymond J. Donovan, in proceeds gained from the firm’s December 2007 sale to ACS, a Spanish construction conglomerate. ACS paid $150 million for Schiavone. Judge Susan Wigenton ruled the case lacked jurisdiction because Donovan, also a former U.S. Labor Secretary in the Reagan administration, was a resident of Florida and not a New Jersey resident. An attorney for Schiavone says the case may be refiled in Florida,
Construction industry officials keeping close watch on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s progress now have new data to study. A White House Council of Economic Advisors report, released on Sept. 10, finds the stimulus law so far has produced or saved about one million jobs, including 133,000 in construction. The figures are estimates, not an actual count of jobs reported by state agencies or companies that have received ARRA aid. Robert A. Murray, McGraw-Hill Construction’s vice president for economic affairs, says CEA’s report, its first quarterly ARRA review, “does indicate the stimulus will increase the ‘pro-cyclical’ benefits to come
President Obama will nominate Patrick Gallagher, the acting head of the Commerce Dept.’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, to be NIST’s director, the White House announced on Sept. 10. For construction, NIST’s key unit is its Building and Fire Research Laboratory, which includes the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, applied economics, materials and construction research, building environment and fire research offices. The lab’s work included a three-year building and fire safety probe of the 2001 World Trade Center disaster. Gallagher, 46, joined NIST in 1993 in its Center for Neutron Research. He became NIST deputy director in September 2008
Unfolding impacts of worldwide infrastructure are putting acute pressure on the engineering profession to steer future development onto a more sustainable path, said global practitioners meeting Sept. 14-16 in London. The warnings came at the annual conference of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, at which the group, which represents close to one million global engineers, released its first “state of the world” report. Hundreds of delegates from all continents were urged to take a leadership role to find ways to curtail future negative effects. Photo: FIDIC In a new report, global engineers group is sounding the alarm for needed
President Obama will nominate Patrick Gallagher, the acting head of the Commerce Dept.'s National Institute of Standards and Technology, to be its director, the White House announced on Sept. 10. Photo: D.Anderson/NIST Gallagher has been NIST deputy director since 2008. For the construction industry, NIST's key unit is its Building and Fire Research Laboratory, which includes the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, as well as applied economics, material and construction research, building environment and fire research offices. The lab's best-known recent project was a three-year building and fire safety investigation of the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center disaster. NIST's
The American Society of Civil Engineers has produced a manual of policies and procedures for organizing and conducting damage assessments after man-made or natural disasters. The Post-Disaster Assessment Manual was developed on the recommendation of an independent task force, led by Sherwood Boehlert, retired congressman and former chair of the House Science Committee. The task force was asked by ASCE in late 2007 to review its damage-inquest and peer-review practices after the credibility of some recent investigations, particularly the peer review of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-funded study of Hurricane Katrina, was challenged by critics. They said issues related
Construction officials in Washington have circled and underlined Sept. 30 on their calendars because it’s the expiration date for several measures that are critically important to the industry. The list includes surface transportation reauthorization, appropriations and a bill funding Federal Aviation Administration programs. Congress returned on Sept. 8 from its August recess, leaving little time before slamming into those deadlines. That makes short-term extensions nearly certain, giving lawmakers time to hammer out longer-term bills. Of measures facing Sept. 30 deadlines, the top construction priority is a successor to the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for
A federal court has upheld the legality of President Barack Obama’s executive order requiring certain federal contractors and subcontractors to use the Dept. of Homeland Security’s E-Verify system to ensure their workers are legally authorized to work in the U.S. The rule implementing the order goes into effect on Sept. 8 and applies to employers holding federal prime contracts of $100,000 or more or subcontracts worth $3,000 or more. Several business groups, including the Associated Builders and Contractors and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, had challenged the requirement, claiming broader use of the E-Verify program would expose contractors to potential
As the U.S. marks the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the White House Council on Environmental Quality has announced the formation of a new federal interagency task force to oversee the massive economic and environmental restoration work that still remains for the Gulf Coast. Photo: Angele Bergeron / ENR Storms have taken 340 sq miles of land in four years. The task force, announced on Aug. 26 by CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley in an interview with Bloomberg News, is something environmentalists and critics of the Army Corps of Engineers have been seeking since Katrina hit. CEQ so far hasn’t spelled
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