Despite Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s (I) authorization this month of as much as $200 million for a long-term effort to provide upgraded sewer systems for the Florida Keys, the prospects are poor for funding in total the estimated $937-million project. The governor’s action—which also extended the project deadline to 2015 from July 2010—does not provide a timeline for delivery of the Everglades Restoration bonds; it only authorizes the Florida Legislature to initiate the $200 million in bonding sometime in the future. Liz Wood, Monroe County’s senior administrator for sewer projects, says the nine municipalities and utilities that will build the
A 98-year-old, accident-prone southeast Texas bridge is being upgraded following a long and bumpy bidding process. The U.S. Coast Guard declared the rolling-lift single-leaf bascule causeway bridge connecting Galveston Island with Texas a navigational hazard in 2001. Old bascule bridge was subjected to repeated barge collisions. The 108-ft-wide bridge often is struck by barges, costing more than $2 million in repairs each year, says Raymond Butler, Gulf Coast Intracoastal Canal Association’s former executive director. A new structure—designed by Galveston County with Mechanicsburg, Pa.-based Modjeski and Masters—triples the clearance width. Bids came in higher than expected in October, resulting in value-engineering
Environmental giant CDM is in talks about a possible link with transportation engineer Wilbur Smith. A merger or acquisition if completed would combine two businesses with strong brands in their respective markets and more than 100 years of combined operating history. Both are based on the U.S. east coast but operate internationally. CDM is a Cambridge, Mass.-based engineering and construction management firm and Wilbur Smith & Associates Inc. is a Columbia, S.C., transportation designer. The transaction is in “due diligence,” says a CDM spokeswoman, declining to note the nature or timing of any new association. “This would be a good
Texas’ capital city is living up to its reputation as the U.S. city most poised to quickly recover from the economic downturn. Forbes magazine, for one, made this prediction last summer when it said the Austin-Round Rock area tops the list of “best cities for recession recovery.” Then June 9, as if on script, Samsung Electronics, Seoul, South Korea, announced it will invest $3.6 billion to expand the capacity of its existing semiconductor plant in Austin. Courtesy Samsung Austin Semiconductor LLC An aerial shows Samsung�s Austin campus, the company�s only semiconductor fabrication site outside South Korea. A $3.6-billion plant upgrade
Last month, more than 1,100 lb of strategically placed explosives brought down the 24,000-ton, 455-ft-tall cooling tower at the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Savannah River site in Aiken, S.C., the second largest such structure to be imploded, says the firm. “The implosion surpassed everyone’s expectations,” says Doug Loizeaux, vice president of Controlled Demolition Inc. (CDI), Phoenix, Md. The firm was the explosives preparation and performance subcontractor to American Demolition and Nuclear Decommissioning, Grand Island, N.Y., which received the approximately $4-million contract to implode the former nuclear-site cooling tower and remove debris. The latter task will be handled by LVI Services
As Louisiana prepares to build sand berms along its barrier islands, a $ 360-million project that BP will pay for, the state of Texas’ General Land Office has dismissed reports of oily critters on the Texas Gulf Coast as “media hype.” But concerns remain about the toxicity of dispersants and effects of a hurricane. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard Texas officials say no oily birds have been found on the state�s shores, such as this Brown Pelican being rescued on June 4 by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from Barataria Bay in Grand Isle, La. Oiled birds and sea turtles did
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (I) wielded his veto on May 28, returning $160 million in funds to the state Transportation Trust Fund and $19 million to the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority. “It’s awesome,” says Bob Burleson, president of the Florida Transportation Builders’ Association (FTBA) in Tallahassee. “He sent a strong message to the Legislature and future legislatures to keep their hands off the trust fund.” Dick Kane, communications director for the Florida Dept. of Transportation in Tallahassee, issued a statement responding to the governor’s veto, saying, “We appreciate that the Governor recognizes the value and job opportunities the Florida Dept.
Texas is preparing for the worst and hoping for the best, if the state’s shores suffer a “tarball” event. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard A Mobile offshore drilling unit holds position directly over the damaged Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer as crews work to plug the wellhead using a technique known as top kill on May 26, in the Gulf of Mexico. The failed procedure was intended to stem the flow of oil and gas and kill the well by injecting heavy drilling fluids through the blowout preventer on the seabed into the well. The good news from the Texas General Land
PROJECT COST: $50,852,581 Photo: Harper Construction Co. Trainee Complex Upgrade - DFAC/Starship Barracks Related Links: Top Project Starts 1-25 Top Project Starts 26-55 This design-build project includes construction of two new dining facilities and the conversion of three existing barracks into classrooms in support of Fort Sill Army Post’s mission to train troops in military systems and operations. The objective was to design and build a training facility with dining halls and classrooms similar to those of a college or university. Each dining facility is a 56,000-sq-ft, single-story, stand-alone structure equipped to feed 2,600 trainee soldiers meals within 90 minutes,
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