Regional transit builder SoundTransit adopted a two-part strategy when it went to bid on tunneling work for University Link, a 3.15-mi underground extension of light rail from downtown Seattle to the University of Washington. The project includes construction of two twin-bore tunnels and two stations. +Image Map: SoundTransit Upon completion in 2016, the University Link 3.15-mi underground light rail extension will allow commuters to travel from downtown Seattle to the University of Washington. Image: SoundTransit The University of Washington station, estimated at $115 million, is one of two stations required for the new line. SoundTransit officials plan to compile a

The federal government plans to use a small army of newly trained agents to audit 6,000 companies in a nationwide crackdown on misclassification of independent contractors by employers. Construction firms could be hit hard by the enforcement actions and regulatory changes contemplated by federal and state governments desperate for funds to close budget deficits. The Obama administration has tasked the Dept. of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service with increasing enforcement this year and is calling for additional resources in the 2011 federal budget. Last year, the Dept. of Labor added 250 new investigators hired within its Wage & Hour

Photo: Forell/Elsesser Engineers, Inc. From left, interns Jamie Pobre, Nathan Canney and Forell/Elsesser Structural Engineer Steve Marusich at the UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine project site. A successful shift to truly integrated project delivery requires starting at the beginning. That is why a pilot internship program launched last year by San Francisco-based structural engineering company Forell/Elsesser Engineers required student-employees to spend time with the owner, architects, engineers and contractors, moving from company to company to get a well-rounded view of the goals and challenges of each project participant. �At industry events, we have been talking about this for a long

Regulators reminded the Southern California city of Long Beach late last month that, just as private-sector busineses must comply with safety rules, public agencies must meet the same standards or face expensive consequences. On Jan. 26, California’s State Water Resources Control Board announced it had reached a $6.2-million settlement with the city for improperly storing petroleum and waste oil in underground tanks. The settlement was the first enforcement of its kind in California against a public agency, officials say, and could result in work worth millions of dollars for specialty contractors to install monitoring systems throughout the state. The State

A California contractor was awarded one of the largest U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contracts for a $5 million irrigation project in the National Elk Refuge near Jackson, Wyoming. Photo Courtesy of Yerba Buena Engineering and Construction Inc. California Firm Tapped to Irrigate Elk Refuge Yerba Buena Engineering and Construction, Inc. a San Francisco-based minority-owned small business will install more than 5 mi of irrigation pipe in the 25,000-acre park to replace what Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Michael Mascari called “pioneer-era canals.” Yerba Buena proposed using polyethylene pipe and small sprinklers. The raw materials

A California contractor was awarded one of the largest U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contracts for a $5-million irrigation project in the National Elk Refuge near Jackson, Wyo. Yerba Buena Engineering and Construction, Inc., a San Francisco-based minority-owned small business, will install more than five miles of irrigation pipe in the 25,000-acre park to replace what Fish and Wildlife Service Spokesman Michael Mascari called “pioneer-era canals.” Five miles of buried polyethylene pipe will replace open canals from pioneer days. Yerba Buena proposed using polyethylene pipe and small sprinklers. The raw materials are more expensive than

Sacramento Municipal Utility District is leading the national shift to �smart grid� networks with help from a $127-million stimulus grant. Photo: SMUD In June, SMUD hired Greenville, South Carolina-based Utility Partners of America, Inc. for $7.5 million to replace the smattering of 620,000 electromechanical and first-generation solid-state meters with Landis+Gyr smart meters that collect usage information digitally in real time from 50,000 demand-response, control relay access points. The digital meters will allow customers who generate their own energy using solar or wind turbines to act as micro-generators and sell power to the grid. The devices could also improve customer service

Caltrans delayed opening of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge until federal inspectors sign off on the second bridge repair in as many months. Traffic was allowed to cross the span at around 9 a.m. Monday morning. Donec at augue a enim venenatis fringilla. Sed sollicitudin velit nec sapien. Duis libero nulla, sagittis placerat, hendrerit sit amet, mollis non, metus. Praesent mauris ipsum, placerat ut, commodo a, mollis sed, nisl. Aliquam fermentum sem. Ut venenatis purus vitae ante. Donec pellentesque ultricies eros. Quisque quis libero eget nisl dignissim semper. Phasellus sapien lectus, malesuada eget, blandit vel, fermentum quis, turpis. Phasellus facilisis

Smarting from a second emergency closure of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge in two months, the California Dept. of Transportation is exploring long-term repairs for a cracked eyebeam until the crossing’s $6.3-billion modernization is completed in 2013. Caltrans engineers are considering replacing part or all of the truss system that has a cracked eyebeam, discovered by inspectors on the 73-year-old cantilevered eastern span during a Labor Day closure. Rancho Cordova, Calif.-based C.C. Myers Inc. was installing a 288-ft detour ramp as part of the reconstruction when inspectors found the 1½ in. crack in a 2-in.-thick, chain-like steel beam. The cracked