SNC-Lavalin said PSEG Power awarded it an EPC contract for a 755-MW combined-cycle natural gas power project in Prince George’s County, Md., near Washington, D.C. The plant will connect to the Potomac Electric Power Co.’s 500 kV transmission line and will feature two gas turbines and one steam turbine.The firm did not disclose the contract value, but Montreal-based analyst Yuri Lynk of Canaccord Genuity, estimates it to be between $800 million and $900 million."The U.S. power market continues to have a bright outlook, as cheap gas and a move away from coal have been driving the increase in award volume
Photo Courtesy David Knudsen, legislative affairs, CalTrans A California bridge received $2 million in emergency federal funding. The Federal Highway Administration provided $2 million in emergency-relief funds to repair a California bridge that partially collapsed after the foundation washed away under an abutment.A heavy rainfall on July 19 washed away the abutment at the eastern end of the Tex Wash Bridge near Desert Center, Calif., which carries eastbound traffic on Interstate 10, the main link from Southern California to Arizona. The westbound bridge also was damaged but still standing, and traffic flowed over it in both directions after foundation repairs.The
The U.S. Government Accountability Office says that while most federal agencies use third-party green-building rating systems, they still find requirements tough to implement on new projects and renovations.
Enlarge The cutterhead of the TBM 'Lady Bird,' seen here being raised up after completing the segment. On July 23, the cutterhead of a tunnel-boring machine, dubbed "Lady Bird," that is mining the first section of one of several tunnels being built to improve the water quality of the Anacostia River, was lifted out of a shaft near a pumping station in Washington, D.C., after completing its mission.Manufactured in Germany by Herrenknect, the TBM removed approximately 1.2 million tons of material from the four-and-a-half-mile tunnel.The tunnels are being built to reduce stormwater and combined-sewer overflows.
Related Links: Amid Controversy, Rail Projects Move Forward in Virginia, Maryland Amid Labor Controversy, Dulles Metro Work Carries On An investigation is underway into the cause of longitudinal cracks that have appeared in the precast-concrete girders installed for the aerial guideway of the Silver Line rail project in northern Virginia.The cracks, some of which are several feet long, were discovered in the top flange of the 96-in.-high, 125- to 150-ft-long girders shortly after they were erected at Dulles International Airport in April by Capital Rail Constructors (CRC), a joint venture of Clark Construction Group LLC and Kiewit Infrastructure South. The
Related Links: Text of final FHWA rule The Federal Highway Administration has issued a final rule spelling out the requirements for the first federal inspection program for highway tunnels.The new National Tunnel Inspection Standards, published in the Federal Register on July 14, are similar to the nearly 50-year-old national requirements for bridge inspections.The tunnel inspection rule is to take effect on Aug. 13.The new standards, which stem from a provision in 2012’s Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, call for state and local agencies that own such tunnels to carry out routine examinations of that infrastructure at
Photos courtesy California Natural Resources Agency Engineering revisions include elimination of two concrete-lined sedimentation basins, to be replaced by earthen bays (above). The preferred plan includes three pumping plants (below). Related Links: Gov. Brown Unveils Scaled-back Bay Delta Plan View the Partially Recirculated Draft EIRt/Supplemental Draft EIS The Bureau of Reclamation and the California Dept. of Water Resources (CWR) offered additional detail to their revised plan to build a $15-billion water conveyance system in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Officials released a revised draft environmental-impact report and statement for the new plan, known as California WaterFix. Designed to eliminate the difficulty
Enlarge Photo Courtesy of WSDOT Steel reinforcements are being added to TBM Bertha in hopes of avoiding getting stuck again. Enlarge Photo Courtesy of WSDOT Big TBM awaits resumption of excavation on Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project. Related Links: Mammoet Custom Gantry Brings Up Bertha for Repairs Seattle Tunneling Behemoth Bertha Awaits Repairs to Bearing Seals The wait for one of the world's largest tunnel-boring machines to resume excavation under downtown Seattle should come to an end in late November, according to a new schedule released by contractor Seattle Tunnel Partners (STP).Dubbed "Bertha," the TBM has sat idle since December
In the thirsty West, where there is a growing need to find new water supplies, large water-diversion schemes have returned to the forefront of planning.The controversial Yampa Pumpback project in Colorado proposes to divert 2,000 cu ft per second of water, or around 97 billion gallons a year, from the Yampa River into a new 500,000-acre-ft reservoir near Dinosaur National Monument in the northwestern part of the state.From there, it would be pumped through a pipeline and tunnels nearly 250 miles east into a storage reservoir near Fort Collins, Colo. Cost estimates for the project range from $3.9 billion to
Photo by Aileen Cho / ENR MoDOT Chairman Miller discussed the agency's funding situation during the "Low and Slow Across America's Infrastructure" tour. Related Links: Low and Slow Across America's Infrastructure Many engineers, consultants and contractors will have to seek work in places other than Missouri through the rest of the decade. Early this month, the Missouri Dept. of Transportation announced it will not embark on any new expansion projects in its five-year FY2016-20 transportation plan, due to lack of funding.In May, ENR’s “Low & Slow Across America’s Infrastructure” tour made stops along Interstate 70 in St. Louis and in
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