Construction workers who plummet to their deaths while wearing their fall protection equipment always present a puzzle for investigators. So when John Plante, a 44-year-old lineman, fell Jan. 17 from a wooden utility pole while working on a Central Maine Power transmission project in Saco, Maine, no one could immediately explain why.Plante fell more than 40 feet from a 95-ft wooden utility pole, says Don Rassiger, chief counsel for Plante's employer, Hawkeye LLC, a subsidiary of Willbos Utility T & D, Happauge, N.Y.  Hawkeye’s work on the $1.4 billion transmission project has been suspended indefinitely pending investigation, according to a

A two-million-gallon water tank in Rochester, N.H., that last month lost half its contents to a steady leak will stay off-line while an accident probe continues, municipal officials say.

Replacement of the historic 76-year-old, 120-ft-long Chelsea Street Drawbridge in East Boston will smooth the journey not only of 20,000 daily motorists but of barges supplying fuel for Logan International Airport and the northeast region.

Massachusetts’ highest court on Dec. 28 upheld an agreement allowing Cape Wind to sell power to National Grid, removing a major obstacle for the planned 130-turbine offshore wind farm on Nantucket Sound.The ruling affirms the 2010 decision by the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Utilities (DPU) to allow National Grid to buy 50% of Cape Wind’s output — 234 MW. The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the New England Power Generators Association and TransCanada had appealed the DPU’s decision late last year.In the 35-page ruling, Supreme Judicial Court Justice Margot Botsford called the DPU review consistent with

Manchester Water Works Sinkhole trapped car on exposed gas line after 110-year-old water main burst. Vehicle and driver were rescued. The town of Manchester, N.H., has been replacing about two miles of aging water pipeline annually in recent years, but municpal crews could not complete their task before a 12-in.-dia water main dating back to 1901 burst. The rupture on Dec. 13 created a street sinkhole that was perilous for one driver.“A cap blew off the back of a cross on the water main,” before water gushed up on the left side of the subcompact, trapping it on a live

COURTESY STATOIL Statoil's 2.3-MW demonstration turbine off the Norwegian coast. Related Links: Maine Offshore Wind Study Statoil Hywind Demonstration Description Statoil, developer of the world’s first full-scale floating wind turbine, is reporting good performance on its 2.3-MW test project near the North Sea. The Norwegian company is targeting the Gulf of Maine as a site for a 12-MW floating-turbine test wind farm, despite the tough U.S. environment for wind-energy development. If constructed, this would be the first floating wind turbine farm in the U.S.“We chose the coast of Maine because of good wind conditions, deep waters and proximity to electricity

PHOTO COURTESY OF J.F. White / Stephen SetteDucati The bridge replacement contracting joint venture used quick-setting concrete to speed work on 14 bridges. Related Links: List of Bridges Video of the Fast 14 weekend demolition/construction work Mass. Governor Talks About the Innovative Bridge Replacement Program In just 10 weekends last summer, a joint- venture contractor demolished and replaced 14 bridges on I-93 north of Boston. Using conventional methods, the work could have taken four years.The $98.1-million design-build project—called the "93 Fast 14"—was part of the Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation's Accelerated Bridge Program. The 2010 blowout of two bridge decks, which

University of California San Diego Health System California Building The Jacobs Medical Center project will be the biggest in UCSDs history. Related Links: The Top 425 Owners Main Story ENR Top Owners Sourcebook: Overview, Rankings and Market Sector Reports Construction is picking up in the health-care market, but renovations trump new building and raising capital is becoming more difficult. Unlike the boom decade of hospital construction prior to 2008, hospitals are now more constrained in their spending habits. Nonetheless, significant projects are under way, and interest in the health-care sector is growing.The American Society of Healthcare Engineering says its latest

Rhode Island wind developer Deepwater Wind plans to develop two, $1-billion offshore underwater transmission networks for moving up to 2,000 MW of offshore wind energy to southern New England and New York.“A merchant transmission network would reduce the cost of servicing the wind farm by providing multiple points of interconnection,” says Bill Moore, CEO of Deepwater Wind, Providence, R.I. “By combining a utility-scale offshore wind farm with a regional transmission network, we can deliver firm power to address the area's electricity demand.”The submarine transmission lines are part of Deepwater's overall plan to develop four wind farms in the northeast, including

Thanks to an executive order from New York's governor, the New York State Dept. of Transportation is using design-build on emergency reconstruction of six miles of state Route 42. The Catskills-area stretch suffered flooding during Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.Restoring Route 42 for Ulster and Greene counties by February is a top priority, says NYSDOT Commissioner Joan McDonald. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) issued Executive Order 19, allowing NYSDOT to use design-build.Halmar International and McLaren Engineering Group won the best-value contract of $14.1 million, beating out four other teams. The work includes replacement of two bridges, 150 ft and 100