The Mid-Atlantic�s cash-strapped transportation departments continue to make the most of every dollar received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. �It�s been a welcome bridge in these economic times,� says Malcolm T. Kerley, chief engineer for the Virginia Dept. of Transportation, which has reduced its six-year project plan by more than $4 billion over the last few years. �The stimulus has helped create some jobs and probably allowed more than a few contractors to stay in business.� Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation Allen Biehler agrees, calling his state�s $1.026-billion ARRA allotment �a godsend in terms of how it has helped
For many contractors working in the Mid-Atlantic region, 2009 represented another year of depressed market opportunities. And the pace of new project starts was certainly down overall. View Top Projects Slideshow At the same time, however, a solid number of major projects moved forward during the previous year. Mid-Atlantic Construction�s annual Top Project Starts ranking highlights the top 25 contracts, by construction contract value, that broke ground during 2009. This year, this ranking is slightly different from the past. Instead of separate rankings by state or region, we�ve presented this year�s list in a single grouping that represents the entire
The Pennsylvania Convention Center, which opened in 1993 in the heart of City Center Philadelphia, lived up to its promise of attracting more convention business to the city and prompting economic growth. The additional convention business in turn prompted hotel construction and economic development projects in the surrounding region and made the area surrounding the Pennsylvania Convention Center its own activity hub. However, demand soon outgrew the convention space in the 1.3 million-sq-ft facility, and city officials wanted that convention center hub to connect to the rest of the city. So in 2008, the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority undertook an
After years of a development boom that brought billions of dollars in work to the region, the economic downturn hit hard in Philadelphia and eastern Pennsylvania. The recession, coupled with limited access to financing, all but dried up opportunities in 2009. Even the area�s colleges, universities and health-care facilities, which typically buzz with activity, dulled to a low hum. Tough times have continued through 2010, although some see a glimmer of hope on the horizon. �The best I can say is that there�s a lot more chatter in the industry today than last year,� says Greg Stewart, executive vice president
The Dietze Construction Group, a building contractor in the Washington, D.C. area, filed May 18 for protection from its creditors in U.S. bankruptcy court in Virginia. The company had planned to sell itself to Suffolk Construction Co., a much bigger Boston-based contractor, but the announced deal apparently had never been completed. Based in Ashburn, Va., Dietze listed numerous creditors and several million dollars in unpaid debt. The creditors included concrete, electrical and mechanical subcontractors or suppliers. Dietze had 2009 revenue of about $150 million while Suffolk’s revenue for the year was about $1.7 billion. Suffolk’s revenue was boosted by the
Construction safety, including safety of crane operations, is a priority for David Michaels, the chief of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Michaels, who became assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health last December, signed a voluntary agreement on May 17 with the National Center for Construction Education and Research, for crane-operator certification--the fourth such program to receive formal OSHA recognition since 1999. Before moving to the top OSHA post, Michaels was professor of environmental and occupational health at George Washington University¹s School of Public Health and Health Services. Earlier, he was the Dept. of Energy's assistant
The Environmental Protection Agency on May 12 released a strategy for restoring the Chesapeake Bay that includes developing a tough, new total maximum daily load (TMDL) for pollutants. EPA says the TMDL, with a Dec. 31 deadline, will be the most complex ever, affecting 483 large treatment plants and thousands of smaller facilities. The plan requires federal agencies to set milestones every two years to ensure measurable environmental goals are met. On May 11, EPA announced a settlement of a 2009 lawsuit filed by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The agreement sets dates by which EPA must take certain actions, such
The U.S Army Corps unveiled a $1.7-billion, 10-year plan this week to restore the ailing Anacostia River in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to health. The plan, two years in the making, identifies 3,000 projects to help restore the severely polluted river and watershed spanning 176 sq miles of land through a combination of stormwater controls, stream restoration, wetland creation and restoration, fish blockage removal, reforestation and controlling trash and chemical contamination. “Now we can begin even more aggressive action to clean up the Anacostia River,” said U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who has championed the development of
In roughly a year on the market, federally subsidized Build America Bonds for public-works projects have soared to $90 billion in volume and saved localities more than $12 billion in interest costs, the Treasury Dept. says. In a report released April 2, Treasury says that the Build America Bonds (BABs), created under last year's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, have increased in volume to $90 billion as of March 31. That equals more than 20% of the market for new municipal bonds. Critics have charged that investment firms' underwriting fees for issuing the new bonds have been too high. Treasury
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