Construction of a 700-ft-long footbridge�cantilevered out on 20 steel beams and clinging to the side of a canyon in North Vancouver, British Columbia�has been an adrenaline-pumping building project that, when finished, will leave tourists breathless. Visitors to the Capilano Suspension Bridge & Park will be able to view the surrounding Canadian rainforest from a galvanized steel walkway with a 20-in.-wide timber deck, which is suspended 300 ft above the canyon floor and attached to a granite cliff face up to 20 ft away. Photo: Capilano The timber bridge is anchored into the rock face with steel plates. Photo: Capilano The
AGC of California is calling for entries to the 2011 AGC Constructor Awards program, honoring outstanding California construction projects. The deadline for entries is Friday, Jan. 14, 2011. All entries must be in AGC�s state office in West Sacramento by 5 p.m. that day. Only projects completed or substantially completed in California in the calendar year 2010 by AGC member firms are eligible to compete in the 2011 Constructor Awards program. Small and large projects are considered equally, and the sophistication of the presentation is not part of the judging; rather, it is the merits of the project that determine
The Associated General Contractors of America and the California Air Resources Board have reached an official agreement to postpone the beginning of compliance of the state�s off-road diesel emission rules until 2014. �The new estimates provided a common starting point for changes that everyone agreed the data should drive,� Kennedy says. In a joint announcement, Mary Nichols, CARB chairman, and Michael Kennedy, AGC�s general counsel, agreed that they would continue to work together to resolve the technical details attached with a complex set of regulations that CARB put into motion in 2007. �Stretching out the timelines and reporting requirements will
Caltrans last week celebrated the �punch-through� of the north portal of the Devil�s Slide Tunnel on State Route 1 (SR-1) in San Mateo County. To the cheers of the assembled crowd, crews operating the massive excavator bored through the barrier � a retaining wall on the northern end of the tunnel. Caltrans broke ground on the tunnels on Sept. 17, 2007. The tunnels will replace a stretch of SR-1 known as �Devil�s Slide� that was subject to numerous rockslides and slip-outs. At times, the highway was subject to long-term road closures due to extensive weather damage. Financed entirely with federal
Construction is underway on the $44-million Los Angeles Harbor College Sciences Complex, a highly sustainable building designed by HGA Architects & Engineers that is seeking net-zero energy/carbon neutral as part of design firm�s goal of achieving LEED platinum certification. The 73,767-sq-ft, three-story complex in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington will house the campus� physical science and life science programs. Completion is targeted for May 2012. HGA is working in collaboration with Pinner Construction, the design-build contractor. Arcadis is the construction manager and project manager. The complex consists of two L-shaped, steel-frame structures: a three-story east wing housing laboratories and
The Stanford University School of Medicine recently held opening ceremonies for its new Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge (LKSC), designed by NBBJ. Photo by Tim Griffith Representing the first completed phase of the Stanford University School of Medicine�s master plan, the 120,000-sq-ft building brings together cutting-edge medicine, modern education, and advanced technology, while serving as a new academic and social hub for the Stanford campus. �The Li Ka Shing Center sets the stage for a new era of medical education through its focus on the human dimension of medicine and advanced technology that will facilitate new approaches
A joint venture of Flatiron and Parsons, with Doppelmayr Cable Car as technology supplier and Turner Construction Co. as a major subcontractor, has been awarded a contract by the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District for the Oakland Airport Connector Design-Build/Operate and Maintain project. More than 25 years in planning, the $361-million automated people mover project will provide a 3.2-mi connection between the Coliseum BART Station and the Oakland Airport. The Flatiron/Parsons Joint Venture will design and construct the fixed, elevated guideway and Doppelmayr will supply the Automated People Mover technology, as well as operate and maintain the system
Some preliminary construction work has begun on the controversial $1.9-billion, 120-mi Sunrise Powerlink transmission line project in the San Diego region. Though more permitting and reports still need to be approved before the transmission lines can built, San Diego Gas & Electric says it will go ahead and start building a construction yard and office in Alpine and upgrade substations in the North County and Chula Vista. The Sunrise Powerlink will tap into the various wind, solar and geothermal resources in the Imperial Valley, says SDG&E spokeswoman Jennifer Ramp. �We already have several contracts with developers who plan to build
The number of people working in construction is approaching a 14-year low now that the industry lost 21,000 jobs in September, while construction unemployment is at a September high of 17.2%, according to an analysis of federal employment figures released by the Associated General Contractors of America. The construction industry continues to suffer from declining investments in construction and broad uncertainty about the future of many federal infrastructure programs and tax rates, association officials noted. �It has taken less than four years to erase a decade�s worth of job gains as the industry suffers from declining private, state and local
When the $80-million, 125,000-sq-ft Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects-designed expansion of the historic 1872 Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento opens this month, it will not be the first time that contractors see the building in all its three-dimensional glory. With the opening of the $80-million, 125,000-sq-ft expansion of the historic 1872 Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, it will not be the first time that contractors see the building in all its three-dimensional glory. Building Information Modeling was essential to saving both time and money on the iconic project, according to John Home, project manager for Redwood City-based Rudolph and Sletten,
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