Courtesy of McDonough Associates High road? Engineer was owed for work on this Illinois project. Related Links: Chicago Tribune Op-Ed on IDOT Suspension of McDonough Associates The Illinois Dept. of Transportation is at war with one of Chicago’s most important engineering consulting practices over billings and payments.A federal judge in late June ordered IDOT to pay Chicago-based designer McDonough Associates almost $2 million that the DOT had withheld from the company for work on three projects. IDOT had stopped paying and suspended the engineering firm for three years because of what IDOT claims were years of overbilling.IDOT started turning over

A Georgia-based prime contractor with offices in Alabama has defaulted and requested help from its surety for projects in Newnan, Ga., and Shelby County, Ala. Photo from www.newnancentre.com D. Dean & Associates helped celebrate the groundbreaking of the Newnan Convention Center project in Newnan, Ga. Now, the company has apparently defaulted on its work at the project. Related Links: Alabama Contractor Cries Foul After Termination by DOT More ENR Finance News Stories Columbus, Ga.-based D. Dean & Associates Inc. also had an office in Birmingham. Founder and President Danny Dean could not be reached for comment, but his company has

Newnan Convention Centre Authority Photo from the website of the Newnan Convention Center, which is under construction. Related Links: Takeover Agreement Between Ohio Casualty and Alabama Schools Newnan Centre subcontractors getting paid through bonding firms account A mid-size building prime contractor in Georgia and Alabama has defaulted and requested help from its surety.Columbus, Ga.-based D. Dean & Associates Inc. also had an office in Birmingham. Founder and President Danny Dean could not be reached for comment, but his company has apparently run into financial problems.According to a version of a takeover agreement with the Alabama Public School Authority, the Shelby

Related Links: Anniston, Ala. Star: Work on Parkway Still Stalled After being removed from an Alabama state parkway section that was more than 80% complete, the contractor says the root of the problem was design errors that couldn’t be resolved with the state department of transportation.  “The state’s description was we were behind schedule. We differ on why we were behind schedule,” says Dan Cordell, general manager of Hernando, Miss.-based L&T Construction. "When all things are considered—we presented the state with some scheduling changes we wanted them to consider—we were ahead of schedule.” The Alabama Dept. of Transportation removed L&T on

Courtesy of Wilhammer Industries Harness is part of a new line of fall-arrest equipment. Tragedy sparked a new idea about safety for Max Wilhammer, who creates customized fall-protection harnesses including some that provide longer protection for dangling construction workers who have fallen and been saved by their harnesses.Hanging in a harness after a fall for more than five minutes in an upright posture, with legs relaxed straight beneath the body, can cause serious injury or death, according to Occupational Safety and Health magazine. Wilhammer says that severe injury is possible after eight to 12 minutes. Others have put the time

Pittsburgh’s $528-million North Shore Connector project is now nearing completion on schedule, despite a month-long jam of a tunnel-boring machine in 2008. The Port Authority of Allegheny County says there are no claims or liquidated damages. Photo: Courtesy of Port Authority of Allegheny County New expanded light-rail station features preserved mural. The 1.2-mile extension of the city’s 25-mile light-rail system extends from downtown beneath the Allegheny River to the city’s North Side. The work involved three major components: construction of the twin-bore tunnels, reconfiguration of the existing Gateway Station and a new North Side station. In April 2008, the 500-ton

The first new steel mill in Youngstown, Ohio, in decades is being built to supply small-diameter steel pipe for robust activity in Marcellus Shale gas-and-oil exploration. The plant is conveniently located within the geologic formation’s perimeter. Marcellus Shale is a Devonian formation situated within North America’s Allegheny Plateau. The $650-million V&M Star mill, to be sited next to an existing V&M mill, will enable the owner to fill rising demand for smaller tubes ranging in size from 23⁄8 in. to 7 in. “It’s got to be the first new steel-making facility [in the area] in at least 40 years,” says

Officials say the catastrophic 2007 collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minnesota that killed 13 people revealed shortcomings in visual bridge-inspection techniques, particularly of gusset plates and other components. Mark Bagnard, lead investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, told attendees at the annual International Bridge Conference, held this year in Pittsburgh on June 14-17, that the state’s load ratings of bridges were inadequately measured and did not include gusset plates. As far back as 2003, photos showed the gusset plates were bowed. “Despite the photos, this bowing was not reported in either of two inspections.…One inspector actually saw

The U.S. Dept. of Labor has proposed $201,600 in penalties against O’Neill, Neb.-based John Prouty Construction, Inc., for alleged safety violations related to a Sept. 12, 2008 trench collapse that killed four workers. The accident occurred near Verdel, Neb., and caused a chain reaction of fatalities. The four workers died after the trench collapsed and one of the workers, Travis Lunn, 24, of O’Neill, fell into the trench. Three of Lunn’s coworkers tried to rescue him and were caught in the trench. Also killed were David Peterson, 35, of O’Neill; Gary Forsch, 61, of Spencer, Neb.; and Brad Kelly, 43,

Jim Kunz, business manager for operating engineers’ union Local 66 in Pittsburgh, has reason to believe the recession will not hit his city as hard as others. So far, only 400 of the 5,200 members of his local actively pursuing work are out of a job. And Pittsburgh overall may have reason to share his optimism, long ago having diversified its business base and also learning to live with and recover from the decline of its steel industry. Photo: Jim Judkis / ENR Business agent Kunz says relatively few of his members are not working and there is cause for