Photo Courtesy Silverstein Properties After five years of construction, 4 WTC—the first tower on the original 16-acre World Trade Center site—was set to open on Nov. 13.Designed by Fumihiko Maki, the 977-ft-tall office building is the shortest of the four towers planned for the site. Tishman Construction is the construction manager for the 2.3-million-sq-ft structure as well as for 1 WTC, which is set to open early next year, and 3 WTC, a 1,170-ft tower whose eight-story podium is nearly completed. Two WTC has so far been built to street level. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey

Two trade groups and the New York City Dept. of Buildings (DOB) are scheduled to give oral arguments on Dec. 17 before a state judge in a case involving the prefabricated building units of Atlantic Yards' B2 tower. A factory at the Brooklyn Navy Yard is making the units for developer Forest City Ratner Cos.' $117-million modular high-rise, the first residential tower at the Atlantic Yards site. But the trade groups—Mechanical Contractors Association of New York (MCANY) and the Plumbing Foundation City of New York (PFCNY)—charge that the prefab work is being done without licensed trades people and sued DOB

From a $1.3-billion water treatment plant to a $5.6-million highway interchange, the winners of this year's Best Projects competition were not limited by value or scope of work.

It took only 20 hours this past weekend for crews to demolish and replace the eastbound lane of a twin bridge in Southeast, N.Y., under a federally funded accelerated bridge construction (ABC) program that involves the use of precast parts. The new 80-ft-long and 57-ft-wide bridge with full shoulders sits beside a new westbound span on Interstate 84 over Dingle Ridge Rd. The westbound bridge was completed Sept. 21, also in 20 hours. Photo by Rick Raglow, Courtesy HNTB Corp. Smooth Sliding: Working through the rain, crews began demolition of the existing structure at 5 p.m. Oct. 19 and slid

New York City has activated the final stage of Water Tunnel No. 3's Manhattan leg, turning on a new spigot for the borough for the first time in more than 90 years. The activation of this 8.5-mile stretch of the $6-billion tunnel—one of the largest infrastructure projects in the city's history—"is a historic milestone," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in an Oct. 16 statement announcing the event.Meanwhile, the city's trunk and water main installation work that connects the tunnel to the water distribution system is ongoing.Embedded 400 to 600 feet deep, Tunnel No. 3 will add redundancy to the city's water

Columbia, Cornell, Fordham and New York universities are among the region's institutions with major plans to grow their science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) student bodies and, as a result, build new facilities. Drawing on long-term, billion-dollar capital investment programs, several have already begun to add space for classrooms, research, collaboration and even residential housing. Even public schools with smaller, dwindling budgets are including a STEM push in long-range plans to add or modernize facilities, many of which are 100 years old. The local efforts are in line with New York City's plans to become a world-class science and technology

When it comes to architecture, New York and Washington, D.C. are, indeed, zoos. At least, that is how architectural historian and children's book author Isabel Hill sees them as she introduces kids to the menagerie of animals in architecture that grace city buildings. Photo By Isabel Hill Designed to cultivate an appreciation for the built environment, these children's books highlight the details in urban architecture. "I'm trying to get them to look up," and away from their cell phones and other digital devices, says Hill, who is also a photographer and filmmaker. Through her three books aimed at 5 to

An unspecified "hydraulics issue" is cited as the cause of a tower crane carrying a 13,000-lb load getting stuck in midair earlier today, Oct. 7, resulting in the closure of a midtown Manhattan street. The crane's block was stuck 400 ft above ground at the 157 W. 57th St. site and was manually lowered without incident at around 3:30 p.m., says an Office of Emergency Management spokeswoman. The street has been reopened to traffic, but the Dept. of Buildings (DOB) has issued a partial stop-work order at the site, says a DOB spokeswoman. The investigation is ongoing, she adds.The incident

I t's usually not difficult to tell when repairs are under way at one of New York state's more than 17,000 bridges. If the street signs or workers donning bright orange vests flagging drivers toward alternate routes don't give it away, motorist delays and frustration usually drive the point home. But the state is attempting to ease the pain in certain heavily trafficked areas under a program launched last year that aims to put road and bridge repair work on the fast track, curbing driver inconvenience in the process. Related Links: ENR New York More ENR New York Projects Under

Photo Courtesy of N.J. Governor's Office The section of the boardwalk that was destroyed in the blaze had only recently been rebuilt after Sandy destroyed it 11 months ago. Related Links: Moving Beyond the Storm Ocean County, N.J., investigators say that faulty electrical wiring caused the wind-swept fire that destroyed more than 50 businesses along the Jersey Shore's iconic boardwalk on Sept. 12. Corrosive saltwater and sand from Superstorm Sandy, which destroyed the same boardwalk 11 months ago, "defected" the wiring, which was in a "totally inaccessible" area of the boardwalk, investigators note.Joseph D. Coronato, Ocean County prosecutor, announced the