Nevada state engineer Jason King cleared the Southern Nevada Water Authority to draw 83,988 acre-ft of water annually from four valleys in rural White Pine and Lincoln counties in northeast Nevada, advancing toward the adoption of a proposed groundwater pipeline network that is designed to slake Las Vegas' growing thirst.
Nevada's recent population boom means congested roads across the state. Traffic nearly tripled during the last 15 years, making management of the highway system a daunting task.
The $210 million, 500-ft-tall SkyVue observation wheel broke ground on the Las Vegas Strip, directly across from Mandalay Bay Resort. On Thursday, March 1, about 130 mixer-trucks delivered and placed 1,300 cu yards of concrete needed for the western hemisphere’s largest observation wheel. Las Vegas-based Nevada Ready Mix Inc. was the supplier. The attraction at 3951 Las Vegas Blvd. S. is being built by developers Howard Bulloch and David Gaffin. Vancouver-based Ledcor is the general contractor, with Norcross Construction, Las Vegas, as owner’s representative. The 18-in-dia tubular steel wheel has 16 spokes that connect to a custom spindle and hub
Las Vegas Paving Corp., a 54-year-old, privately owned heavy-highway contractor based in Las Vegas, is regularly ranked among the top two general contractors on ENR Southwest’s annual Top Contractors ranking, and was the 2nd ranked transportation contractor in the three-state Southwest region in 2011. Las Vegas Paving’s largest project start of the past year was the $116.8-million Route 215 Bruce Woodbury Beltway, Tenaya Way to Decatur Blvd. project, which expands an existing interim roadway to four lanes and adds full interchanges and overpasses. Photo courtesy Las Vegas Paving Lou Esposito, Las Vegas Paving risk manager Photo courtesy Las Vegas Paving
New Mexico’s Los Alamos National Laboratory will shed 400 to 800 people through voluntary layoffs this spring, or about 10% of its permanent staff, to cut $300 million from its budget. It will leave the 69-year-old, 36-sq-mi. laboratory with 11,271 students, post-doctoral, term and union workers, which is the same staff number as four years ago. Photo courtesy Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Lab has a current annual budget of $2.2 billion. The site is managed by Los Alamos National Security LLC, comprised of Bechtel National, the University of California, Babcock & Wilcox Co., and URS for the
New Mexico’s Los Alamos National Laboratory will shed 400 to 800 people through voluntary layoffs this spring, or about 10% of its permanent staff, in order to cut $300 million from its budget. It will leave the 69-year-old, 36-sq-mi. research facility with 11,271 students, post-doctoral, term and union workers or about the same number of staff as four years ago. The site is managed by Los Alamos National Security LLC, comprised of Bechtel National, the University of California, Babcock & Wilcox Co., and URS for the U.S. Energy Dept.’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Staff reduction will come from Los
Southern Nevada’s long simmering plans for a sports arena took a step forward with a funding pact that could see the $650 million, 17,500-seat Silver State Arena break ground this summer. A memorandum of understanding between United Arab Emirates-based International Development Management and Shenzhen, China-based China Security & Surveillance Technology (CSST) was unveiled Feb. 10, calling for CSST, with support from its Chinese banking partners, to fully fund construction of a 750,000-sq-ft sports arena in Henderson, about 12 miles south of Las Vegas. The deal covers only the indoor arena portion of a potential $1.3-billion project that calls for a separate
McCarran International Airport's new $99-million air traffic control is readying for lift-off. Archer Western Contractors, a unit of Chicago-based The Walsh Group, has been constructing the 352-ft-tall structure for the Federal Aviation Administration since June 2011. Image courtesy McCarran Intl. Airport McCarran's new air traffic control tower will be almost twice the height of the existing tower. Designed by WHPacific out of its Albuquerque, N.M. office, the project includes a four-story, 52,800-sq-ft base building for radar approach control, air traffic control training simulators, administrative offices and other navigational equipment. The 22-level concrete tower is topped by a two-level 850-sq-ft cab—or controller work area—with 14-ft-tall angled
The annual World of Concrete show opened its doors in Las Vegas this week with better moods and traffic. The estimated attendance of 50,000 was an improvement over 2011, but 10% less than just two years ago. Photo by Tudor Van Hampton Attendance at this year's World of Concrete is expected to reach 50,000, slightly higher than last year's 48,554. Photo by Tony Illia While some longtime large exhibitors were missing this year, smaller independent dealers picked up the slack. "There is a tinge of optimism," said Ed Sullivan, chief economist for the Skokie, Ill.-based Portland Cement Association, on the first day of
Generating electricity when the sun isn't shining has long been the Achilles' heel of the solar power industry, but a new solar project in the high Nevada desert aims to solve the dilemma by becoming the nation's first commercial solar power plant to use salt storage technology. Images courtesy of SolarReserve The 60-ft-dia, cast-in-place concrete central tower rises 538 ft above the desert floor. Image Courtesy of SolarReserve A 2-sq-mile ring of reflective mirrors focuses sunlight upon a massive receiver atop a concrete tower in the center to heat salt and generate steam. The $900-million project is being built by
