Thirsty For Projects, New Mexico Eyes Stimulus

New Mexico’s engineers and contractors are ready to expedite the bidding of $1.2 billion worth of construction projects in the wake of an economic stimulus package. Mike Gibson, executive director of the Associated Contractors of New Mexico, believes the national focus on infrastructure could also stimulate New Mexico’s Legislature to allow design-build, Construction Manager-At-Risk and other alternative project delivery methods in 2009.

“Some concerns of industry leaders are that all 50 states will be competing for resources to deliver their respective lists of projects,” he says. “But the overall consensus of these same industry leaders is that the private sector can handle anything the public sector can throw at them.”

Gibson notes that New Mexico’s highway industry has experienced a loss of 3,500 jobs, or over 20% percent of the workforce, since January, due to lack of funding for Gov. Bill Richardson’s (D) $1.6-billion transportation program and unanticipated or unaccounted-for spikes in oil-based materials products like asphalt, he adds.

Aileen Cho, ENR's senior transportation editor, is a native of Los Angeles and recovering New Yorker. She studied English and theater at Occidental College, where a reporter teaching the one existing journalism course encouraged her to apply for the LA Times Minority Editing Training Program. Her journalism training led to her first stories about transportation, working as a cub reporter with the Greenwich Time. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and New York Times. Many of her experiences with engineers and contractors have inspired material for her alternative theater productions way, way off Broadway. For ENR, Aileen has traveled the world, clambering over bridges in China, touring an airport in Abu Dhabi and descending into dark subway tunnels in New York City. She is a regular at transportation conferences, where she finds that airport and mass transit engineers really know how to have fun. Aileen is always eager to hop on another flight because there are so many interesting projects and people, and she gets tired of throwing her cats off her computer in her home office in Long Beach, California. She is a very conflicted Mets/Dodgers fan.

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60% of workers are exposed to heights greater than 5 ft daily, and workers' compensation from injury is more than $7B - it's time for construction leaders to take measures to reduce risk and create a safer work environment. We'll explore how technology can improve construction site safety and help prevent accidents before they happen.