On March 2, SH 130 Concession Co. LLC—the private entity that designed and built and now operates and maintains Segments 5 and 6 of SH 130, a 41-mile portion of the total 91-mile roadway—filed for Chapter 11 protection in the Western District of Texas.
Construction’s unemployment rate continued its long stretch of year-over-year improvement in February, falling to 8.7% from the year-earlier 10.6%, but the rate was slightly worse than January’s 8.5%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Critics contend that the Dept. of Energy’s loan-guarantee and Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) programs are a burden on taxpayers, but current and former DOE officials disagree, saying the programs will enable the U.S. to retain its leadership in an increasingly competitive global energy marketplace.