FAA Issues Houston License To Convert Ellington to Spaceport Houston Mayor Annise Parker (D) announced June 30 that the Federal Aviation Administration had approved Ellington Airport as a launch site for reusable launch vehicles. Parker hopes to make the Houston Spaceport a hub for manufacturing spacecraft and training astronauts.DOE Finalizes Last of Loan Guarantees for Vogtle Project The U.S. Dept. of Energy has finalized the last remaining portion of $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees previously allotted for the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project near Waynesboro, Ga. Last month, the agency issued $1.8 billion in guarantees to three subsidiaries of
Related Links: DeSimone Consulting Engineers Bjarke Ingels Group Getting into a construction groove at the Grove at Grand Bay in Miami was not easy, due to the drastic and sundry twists of the 21-story towers. Getting the gravity- defying concrete structures to twist without falling over also was tricky.The two residential towers in Coconut Grove were angled and eccentrically shaped by Bjarke Ingels Group, with Nichols, Brosch, Wurst, Wolfe + Associates, to optimize views of Biscayne Bay.Set for completion in October, the buildings face each other like a couple dancing the twist. Each has rounded exposed perimeter columns that slant
Image courtesy of TJPA Financing strategy lets transit-hub neighbors go taller, but they cannot exceed the 1,070-ft Salesforce Tower, planned as the city's tallest. Nineteen projects are underway. Related Links: Transbay Transportation Hub Will Be a Safe Haven Developing the Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco has been a nearly two-decade crusade for Maria Ayerdi-Kaplan, executive director of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority. She spearheaded the agency's method for funding the project, which, in turn, lifted real estate development in the so-called South of Market area.The plan got a boost when the State Dept. of Transportation transferred 19 acres to
Related Links: Transbay Funding Plan Lights Fuse on Area Building Boom San Francisco Creates Special Tax District For Major Projects San Francisco To Build West Coast's Tallest Tower A crane on a trestle lifts an architectural steel assembly, including a 9-ft-tall cast node, into place along the perimeter of the $4.5-billion Transbay Transit Center, which is taking shape in seismically active San Francisco. The node picks, followed by more steel tubes that link to form a four-and-a-half-block-long exoskeleton, is repeated more than 300 times. The lateral-load-resisting system will allow immediate reoccupancy of the 1,425-ft x 171-ft "groundscraper" after the "Big
Related Links: Press release from Gov. Hogan's office Purple Line project web page Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has given his tentative approval to a 16.2-mile, 21-station light-rail Purple Line project across Washington, D.C.'s northern suburbs, but the go-ahead hinges on increased contributions from counties on the route and a revised funding strategy for a P3 project originally estimated to cost $2.4 billion.In announcing his favorable decision on the Purple Line project on June 25, Hogan also delivered disappointing news to advocates of a second light-rail project, saying he isn't endorsing a proposed 14-mi. line in Baltimore.Hogan has insisted since
Photo Courtesy of Southern Co. Fukushima response Per NRC mandate, U.S. nuclear sites are installing disaster-resistant domes. Photo Courtesy of Southern Co. Related Links: TVA Moves Ahead to Make Fukushima Upgrades at Nuclear Power Plants Offshore Wind-Power Prototype Advancing at Fukushima Southern Nuclear and Georgia Power were the latest nuclear energy providers to install a federally mandated disaster-resistant, concrete-dome equipment-storage facility designed to mitigate the loss of power in the event of an "extreme" natural phenomena. Unveiled at the utilities' Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, near Waynesboro, Ga., the so-called FLEX Dome was designed to withstand 360-mph winds—sufficient for
Photo Courtesy of California Dept. of Water Resources Scientists from California's Dept. of Water Resources measure subsidence in the Central Valley. Related Links: Abstract of Water Resources Research article Two new studies show that some of the largest groundwater basins in the world are being drained by human consumption but that there is little information about how much water remains in them.Published in Water Resources Research on June 16 and conducted by a team of researchers from the University of California at Irvine, the studies draw upon data supplied by NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites. The study evaluates
Related Links: Losing Bidder Protests Big Texas Tollway Award Bergstrom Expressway Project Overview The award last month of a $581- million design-build contract to a Fluor-Balfour Beatty team to build a new expressway near Austin is not sitting well with the losing team or with local contractors. Texas firms say they are being squeezed out of competition by mandatory design-build procurement rules on large projects, while the losing bidder on the Bergstrom Expressway, led by Spanish giant Ferrovial Agroman, has challenged its loss in a bid protest.The Ferrovial Agroman team claims that the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority graded its
Related Links: Washington State Pulls the Plug on Advisory Panel Shocked and disappointed: That's how Patricia Galloway, chair of the three-member expert review panel for Washington state's $2-billion Highway 99 bored-tunnel project, described the panel's scrapping by state lawmakers.State legislators apparently perceived the panel as a legal risk and wanted to retain a clear distinction between the roles of the state and the contractor, avoiding any appearance that the state-named panel was providing recommendations to the contractor. Neither the Washington State Joint Transportation Committee, which appointed the panel, nor its coordinator would comment beyond confirming the panel's demise.It remains a
Related Links: Hawaiians Fear Utility Sale Will End Rooftop Solar Choice Hawaiian Utilities Balk at Speed of Solar Panel Adoption Gov. David Inge (D) has signed a bill to make Hawaii the first U.S. state to commit to generating 100% of its power from renewable sources. The June 17 action to reach the goal by 2045 follows by days NextEra Energy shareholder approval to acquire Hawaiian Electric Industries.Florida-based NextEra is the largest U.S. solar energy developer. The firm says the $4.3-billion deal, which still needs state regulators' approval, would provide the utility with resources and access to expertise to meet
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