Carrying both commuters and water, tunnels have long snaked through the bedrock beneath New York City, but now the labyrinth is growing: Multiple projects are under way totaling nearly $2.5 billion, with several other tunneling jobs on the horizon. Photo: Launch Box Second Avenue subway’s first phase is a $350-million, four-year contract. “Everyone wants these projects done as soon as possible, so we have a flurry of underground activity,” says Gary A. Almeraris, vice president of Skanska USA Civil, Whitestone, N.Y., which has major contracts on three of the region’s biggest tunneling jobs. “This is good news for the New
Donation-supported, new projects keep moving forward at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Caruth Hall replaces an aging building, and Annette Caldwell Simmons Hall will serve a growing School of Education and Human Development, says Philip Jabour, executive director of the Office of Planning, Design, and Construction at SMU. The university has �wealthy alumni and is improving the campus,� says David R. Stanford, project designer for Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford of Fort Worth, which designed the new buildings and a renovation of the ballroom at the university�s Umphrey Lee Center. The firm has completed about nine projects for SMU. �Everything on the
While many states have tapped private capital to build roads and bridges, Texas has shown less enthusiasm for alternative funding mechanisms, allowing expiration of the Dept. of Transportation�s and Regional Mobility Authorities� right to enter into new comprehensive development agreements (or CDAs). �The moratorium greatly limits TxDOT from procuring new CDAs to deliver highway projects for which there is insufficient funding available from traditional sources,� says TxDOT spokesperson Karen Amacker. CDAs are agreements between private companies and public entities that allow for design and construction of roads and other infrastructure. In the case of concession agreements, they provide financing, operation
Government projects—from prisons to new hospitals—have contractors sharpening their pencils and building in Alaska. “Things in Alaska are pretty good compared to the rest of the country,” says Chuck Wiegers, president of A&A Roofing Co. of Fairbanks and a board member and past chairman of Associated Builders and Contractors-Alaska Chapter. “A good part of the work is federal and state.” John MacKinnon, executive director of Associated General Contractors of Alaska in Anchorage, says he expects highway and civil construction will provide additional work during the next couple of years. He adds that the state has experienced a downturn in vertical
After receiving tips, Bay County, Fla., Sheriff’s deputies arrested 11 undocumented workers at the Panama City Marina on May 19, 2010, for using stolen social security numbers to obtain employment cleaning up the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Bay County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Ruth Corley indicates BP subcontractors hired the men, who most recently came from South Carolina, Mississippi and other parts of Florida. The men are citizens of Nicaragua, Honduras, Ecuador and Bolivia. BP contracted with Eagle-SWS of Panama City to complete the oil clean-up work. According to BP spokesperson Vani Rao, Eagle-SWS hired CCI (Containment
After receiving tips, Bay County, Fla., sheriff’s deputies arrested 11 undocumented workers at the Panama City Marina on May 19, 2010, for using stolen Social Security numbers to obtain employment cleaning up the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico Related Links: Louisiana Starts Pushing Sand To Block Oil BP Considers Options To Plug Gusher, Investigates ‘Complex Accident’ Website Channels Oil-Spill Info Bay County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Ruth Corley says BP subcontractors hired the men, who most recently came from South Carolina, Mississippi and other parts of Florida. The men are citizens of Nicaragua, Honduras, Ecuador and Bolivia, she
Although construction activity has slowed in the Panhandle and West Texas, new projects continue to surface and work continues. “We’re not nearly as busy as we have been the past five or six years, but we have some nice school projects starting in 2010,” says Wiley Hicks III, vice president of Wiley Hicks Jr. Inc., a general contracting firm, and president of the Panhandle of Texas Chapter of the Associated General Contractors, both in Amarillo. “It’s not great, but it’s not horrible.” Wiley Hicks Jr. is finishing up a new building for the Cardiology Center of Amarillo, and Hicks says
Texas gained nearly four million people during the past decade, making it one of the fastest growing states in the nation, and all of those folks depend on clean, potable water, spurring municipalities to build new plants and upgrade to add capacity at existing facilities. Photo BCRUA Pepper-Lawson is building the Brushy Creek Water Treatment Plant. Due to the size of the initial basin, crews poured segments of the first basin, then returned to pour the walls atop the mat. Related Links: Additional water treatment projects A nearly 150,000-person population growth in Williamson County, in suburban Austin, led three cities—Round
The U.S. General Services Administration received nearly $5.6 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to modernize federal facilities and convert them into high-performance green buildings. Those dollars are starting to flow into communities in the Southeast as projects ramp up. Photo: General Services Administration Skanska USA is overseeing a $49-million modernization of the George C. Young U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building in Orlando. Related Links: Top Green Contractors “The government spends a lot of money on energy use in buildings, and anything we can do to make that better and reduce our carbon footprint is a good thing,”
The stagnant economy has forced Orlando city leaders and community arts supporters to revise original plans for a $450-million Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts (DPAC), the second component of the city’s downtown venues building program. Related Links: Orlando Report The city will proceed with a phased project and now with a $383 million budget. The center has raised about $88 million from private donors. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and center officials say breaking ground on the center will help spur additional private donations. “We can’t not move forward with the PAC,” Dyer says. “We’ve created this momentum, and