When Florida pioneer and rail baron Henry Flagler pushed his Florida East Coast Railway south to Key West in the early 1900s, his engineers and laborers gave little thought to the environmental impact of their dredging and filling. That wasn’t the approach taken by the engineers and contractors now punch-listing a seven-mile-long reconstruction of a stretch of what became the Overseas Highway. They went out of their way to protect many species of aquatic life, taking care, among other things, not to rock the world of the crocodiles that inhabit the waters. Slide Show Photo: Granite Construction The new roadway
Randy Larson has been with PBS&J of Tampa for more than 21 years. Currently, he serves as president of PBS&J Constructors, and executive vice president of the recently acquired Peter R. Brown Construction, previously based in Clearwater, Fla. Larson also acts as chairman of the combined boards of both companies. LARSON Employee-owned PBSJ Corp. of Tampa, parent company of the engineering, architecture and sciences company PBS&J, PBS&J Constructors and PBS&J International, acquired construction manager Peter R. Brown Construction of Clearwater late last year for $16 million, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. What was the motivation for this transaction?
New York state’s Dept. of Transportation is bringing science to snowdrifts. The agency last month presented “SnowMan,” software for optimizing snow fences on existing roads and for designing highways to reduce drifts, at a conference of the National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board. Stuart Chen, a professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering at the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, who designed the software with Michael Lamanna, a former graduate student, says it can reduce whiteouts and pavement icing and the “extra costs” of snow plowing and deicing salts. Photo: Darrell F. Kaminski, NYSDOT Ten-foot-tall
The carefully crafted public-private partnership developed to build the estimated $1 billion Port of Miami tunnel has fallen apart, with the equity partner Babcock & Brown of Australia bailing out of the deal, but area elected officials hope to keep the project alive. “We’re looking at everything and will take a step back to look at the opportunities and options,” says Florida Department of Transportation spokesperson Dick Kane. FDOT selected in February 2008 Miami Access Tunnel, comprised of Bouygues Publics Travaux of France and equity partner Babcock & Brown, to design, build, finance, maintain and operate the bored tunnels. The
A sinking economy that has meant fewer tourists in Central Florida and dropping hotel room rates has led to a nearly 5% decline in tourist development tax revenue during the last six months, significantly damaging the City of Orlando’s plans for a $425 million performing arts center and a $175 million renovation of the Florida Citrus Bowl. “We are currently reviewing cost-reduction measures including timing, project schedules, site configuration and other opportunities to reduce the overall project budget,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer says in a written statement. The projects are part of a three-venue, downtown improvement package, totaling more than