Related Links: A Gigantic Turnaround for a Giant Tunneling Machine Ports Seek Rising Tide of Public, Private Funds Bouygues Starts $1-Billion Miami Tunnel When the 2,000-ton cutterhead of a tunnel-boring machine named Harriet made a U-turn last summer in Miami, the event marked a major turning point for the Port of Miami tunnel project.After Harriet broke through the end of one 4,200-ft-long, 42.3-ft-dia tunnel under Biscayne Bay last July, crews with the design-build team, led by Bouygues Civil Works Florida, used a giant Teflon turntable to rotate the TBM's cutterhead and shield in preparation for boring a twin tunnel in
Photo Courtesy of WSDOT The 57.3-ft-dia "Bertha" is currently the world's largest tunneling machine. Now being shipped to Seattle in segments, she will begin excavation for the new state Route 99 this summer. Related Links: Here Comes Bertha Alaska Way Viaduct Proceeds Despite Mayor's Opposition When the 57.5-ft-dia earth-pressure-balance tunnel-boring-machine called Bertha reaches Seattle from Japan next month, it will make its debut at a 400-ft-long, 80-ft-wide and 80-ft-deep launch pit that crews have been toiling on for months. The 6,700-ton, 326-ft-long tunneler's arrival will be a key milestone in the $3.1-billion, 12-project program to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.The
Photo by AP Wideworld A flurry of pending reports are expected to address the issues of sustainability and resiliency in transportation infrastructure. Related Links: New Climate Cycle Marked by Storms, Floods & Drought Louisiana Officials' Goal Is Hurricane Resistant Bridge From cold-ironing at port harbors and beehive programs at airports to porous pavements, recycled asphalt aggregate and "green roads" rating systems, the transportation industry's efforts to address climate change have been growing over the last decade. But Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the devastation of Superstorm Sandy last fall have increased the sense of urgency about responding to severe weather
The 1,485-ft-long steel arch bridge, with a 505-ft-long main span, forms a crucial crossroad: it carries eight lanes of Interstate 95 across the Harlem River, linking, with a swirling medley of eight ramps, the Cross Bronx Expressway with other key arteries, such as the George Washington Bridge and the Major Deegan Expressway, or Interstate 87.
Related Links: ENR: Flexible Approach to Work ENR: Bidding Edge The use of performance-based contracts has blossomed in recent years with delivery methods such as design-build and construction manager-at-risk, particularly for large jobs. But another method, job order contracting (JOC), has been around for almost 30 years. As the industry looks increasingly toward maintenance of aging infrastructure, the South Carolina firm that claims the origins of JOC hopes its big time has arrived."JOC occupies a nice niche, but a small niche within the overall construction industry," says William Pollak, the new chief executive officer of the Gordian Group, Mauldin, S.C.,
The daughter of a bridge engineer in Iowa, Avery Bang spent a lot of her childhood accompanying her father on bridge inspections—"even on holidays," she recalls. Now, Bang builds bridges in developing countries around the world.Bang's globe-trotting tendencies started in college, where she earned a civil engineering degree from the University of Iowa.
Contractors recall how Don Hillis, assistant chief engineer for the Missouri Dept. of Transportation, often would point to a big sign he had installed in a meeting room.
Related Links: For Panamax Port Expansions, The Freight Wait is Almost Over Taking Asphalt's Temperature From automated vehicles to infrared bars that check for uniform temperatures in paved asphalt, the transportation industry is embracing high-tech tools and concepts. The current two-year federal legislation called MAP-21 promotes many such initiatives, including enhanced intelligent construction data, to help builders and operators achieve greater efficiency, reliability and safety in moving people and goods.MAP-21 also includes an emphasis on improved freight networks—a watershed inclusion that inspired multiple sessions at the Transportation Research Board's 92nd annual meeting on Jan. 13-17. The sessions consistently featured representatives
Photo Courtesy of the MTA Storm barriers are just one of dozens of suggestions in a draft report after Sandy. Photo Courtesy of the MTA Related Links: Gov. Cuomo Announces Appointments to Emergency Preparedness Commission Draft of the NYS 2100 Commission Report Pressurized Tunnel Plug Claims to be Affordable Alternative to Permanent Floodgates Storm Surge Switches Grid To Off A draft report commissioned by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) in response to Superstorm Sandy reads like a catalogue of every wish list item on every infrastructure advocate's agenda—from flood-specific recommendations for building storm surge barriers around New York to
Rail grade separations. Revamped locks and dams. Toll roads and bridges. Dredging. These components are some of the most "'glamorous parts of the infrastructure conversation in the U.S.," says Pierce Homer, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association's ports-and-waterways co-chairman and Moffatt & Nichol's transportation director.