Public Projects Robins & Morton of Birmingham, Ala., continues work on a $154-million, 354,500-sq-ft bed tower expansion and renovation and new $119-million, 224,500-sq-ft children’s hospital at the University Medical Center of El Paso for the El Paso County Hospital District. Jordan Construction of El Paso serves as a subcontractor, completing site demolition, excavation, utility, concrete and asphalt paving work.

Pat Rhodes, deputy director of aviation for Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport, says Western Builders is about 45% complete and on schedule with its $31.8-million terminal building concourse renovation project.

Journeyman Construction of San Antonio has begun a $14-million restoration of the Potter County Courthouse.

Multiple projects remain under construction at Fort Bliss, but as brigade complexes continue toward completion, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun work on more quality-of-life projects.

“We’re at our busiest,” says Steve Wright, account manager for the Fort Bliss Expansion Program for the corps’ Fort Worth District. “Our contractors have been placing work at about $20 million a week for the last six to eight months. And we think that will continue for about another six to eight months.”

Wright says the corps will put up $1-billion worth of projects this fiscal year. Four brigade complexes will wrap up. The corps has about $300-million yet to bid for additional facilities.

John Goodrich, executive vice president of Jordan Construction’s Civil & Concrete Division, says that with the private market tight, 99% of his division’s work is at the base, primarily sitework and concrete paving, with some tilt-up panel construction, for multiple prime contractors. The company also is building a $47.5-million, 243,000-sq-ft Armed Forces Reserve Center & Joint Vehicle Maintenance Facility for the Texas Army National Guard at Fort Bliss.

That project—with a two-story tilt-up concrete structure and a single-story, pre-engineered metal building—is scheduled for completion in May. Jacobs Facilities of Dallas designed the facility.

The corps began a $50-million Warriors in Transition Complex to assist wounded soldiers with recovery. Sundt Construction of Tucson, Ariz., received a $30-million design-build contract to construct the initial phase, a 140,000-sq-ft, three-building, 232-bed barracks.

FPM Remediations of Rome, N.Y. received the $11.1-million phase-two contract to build a 30,000-sq-ft administrative building and a 15,000-sq-ft Soldier and Family Assistance Center. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money funded that project.

Alutiiq International Solutions of Dallas has completed about 85% of the $19-million Physical Fitness Center and Brigade Combat Team Community Center. Walton Construction Co. in Dallas is building the $42-million Consolidated Family Care/Troop Medical Clinic at the base.

“We’re not just delivering the mission-type stuff but beginning delivering quality-of-life, soldier- and family-support facilities that are needed to make it a community,” Wright says. “Things are moving well and fast.”