CHICAGO�James McHugh Construction Co. of Chicago has substantially completed reconstruction of the original 10-span arch bridge over the Fox River on the Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88) six months ahead of schedule. The span replicates the original 1958 bridge with a series of five arches, rarely seen in modern infrastructure construction. McHugh completed a virtually identical new eastbound bridge in 2008. The two bridges increase traffic capacity to three lanes with full shoulders in each direction instead of two under the Illinois Tollway�s $6.3 billion Congestion Relief Program. Under the original contract, the bridge was slated for completion in May 2010;

On March 15, the Oak Park, Ill., Village Board of Trustees formally approved the agreement that will enable Sertus Capital Partners LLC of Chicago to move forward on plans to build a new $85-million hotel/retail/condo/parking building in the heart of this Chicago suburb. Rendering courtesy of Village of Oak Park, Ill. Bird's Eye View Looking Southwest The 20-story glass tower at the corner of Lake Street and Forest Avenue would be the tallest building in Oak Park. Monday�s agreement gives the developers about four months to demolish the building it owns at the location, 18 months to begin construction and

Magellan Development Group broke ground on March 1 for a 105,000-sq-ft retail center at the Lakeshore East master planned community in downtown Chicago. 

A bill that paves the way for a public-private partnership to design, build and operate the $1.1 billion Illiana Expressway through Indiana and Illinois unanimously passed the Indiana Senate 42-0 on March 2. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is expected to sign the bill in the next two weeks. The 25-mi expressway � about 10 mi in Indiana � would provide an east-west bypass for truck traffic and commuters south of Chicago by linking I-65 in Indiana with either I-57 or I-55 in Illinois. The bill authorizes the Indiana Finance Authority to search for a private investor to finance the design

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added the Chemetco site, a closed copper smelter in Hartford, Ill., and the Lake Calumet Cluster site in Chicago, to the Superfund National Priorities List. Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex and uncontrolled hazardous waste sites in the U.S. The Chemetco site is on Illinois Route 3 in Madison County, about 2 mi south of Hartford. It was a secondary copper smelter from 1969 to 2001 before filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy. More than 500,000 cu yds of processing slag, sludge and other hazardous materials were left on portions

Hanging more than 200 ft over a jobsite in downtown Kansas City, Mo., James Hague doesn’t seem to notice the tiny people and equipment below his feet. Instead of using paper checklists, J.E. Dunn inspectors enter their findings in a mobile smart phone that instantly sends their reports to the company’s data server, where managers can access them over the Internet. The senior technician intently works a dial gauge that measures the play in a crane’s turntable—the giant platform that rotates the jib. “A bearing could go bad,” says Hague, suspended from a full-body harness. “And that’s something we want

Although 2009 was grim overall for the construction industry, not all numbers were negative. Several niche project categories saw significant increases in the four metropolitan statistical areas within Midwest Construction’s coverage: Milwaukee, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Chicago. Photo: Rendering courtesy of Opus North Marquette University, Milwaukee, plans to break ground for a $35-million, 100,000-sq-ft, five-story building for its engineering school this spring. A second, 155,000-sq-ft, $65-million building is planned for the future to complete the new engineering facility. According to research compiled by McGraw-Hill Construction Analytics (which, like Midwest Construction, is part of the McGraw-Hill Cos.), the category faring the

By most accounts, 2010 looks to be another rugged year for much of the construction industry, though things may improve a little near year’s end. In what promises to be a difficult business climate overall, higher-education construction seems to be a relative bright spot. Photo: Loebl Schlossman & Hackl The College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Ill., is in the midst of $84 million of renovation and construction for an instructional building and student resource center. The project, scheduled for completion in 2012, will renovate and construct 600,000 sq ft, along with the related storm and sanitary sewers. That’s not to

Is there room at the inn? Odds are, yes, there is room…too much room. That means there’s less need for more rooms—and what’s bad for the hotel business is equally bad for the construction industry. Photo: Steve Kaelble / Midwest Construction The new JW Marriott Hotel in Indianapolis is one of just a few large hotel projects going on in the Midwest. At 34 stories, it is the tallest hotel in Indiana. The statistics tell a grim story. U.S. hotel occupancy rates have been dropping since 2007, and by the fourth quarter of 2009 they had hit 50.6%, according to

HIRES GOODALE Jeff Goodale has joined the Chicago office of architectural firm HOK as senior vice president and co-director of the justice practice. Goodale has been in the profession for more than 20 years. His experience includes master planning, programming, design, security consulting and construction management for a number of criminal justice system projects. Jeff Mazanec has joined R.A. Smith National as senior project manager in the municipal services division at the company’s Appleton, Wis., office. Mazanec has more than 31 years of experience in municipal engineering, transportation, downtown revitalization, water and wastewater, water resources, solid waste, and environmental engineering