Photo by Doug Lockhart, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory The walls of the rotating test building have no braces thanks to an inverted moment frame. Courtesy of John Wolfe, Tipping Mar The orthogonal girder system, rare for a turntable, will collect earthquake forces from the building columns and transfer them to the central pivot foundation. Related Links: FLEXLAB, for Plug 'n Play Green-Building Studies, Has World's First Revolving Test Bed 11th-Hour Solution Solves Cable-Protection Headache at FLEXLAB's Rotating Test-Bed Building Researchers in Norway, Singapore Are Cloning FLEXLAB Constructing a single-story laboratory disguised as a 1,610-sq-ft office building—with interchangeable parts and systems
Related Links: Time-Lapse Video of Skagit Bridge Replacement Oregon Bridge Truss Travels On Teflon-Coated Tracks Time was of the essence: It was even built into the bidding process as a key factor in the $8.5-million project to replace the collapsed Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River in northwest Washington state.On Sunday, Sept. 15, crews from winning contractor Max J. Kuney Co., Spokane, made good on the firm's bidding commitment by sliding into place the state's first lightweight concrete bridge, with a 19-hour closure of the four-lane interstate connecting Seattle to Vancouver, B.C.Everything about the project was fast-tracked following a
Courtesy of Snohetta for the Golden State Warriors Snohetta remains the lead design firm for the San Francisco arena-on-a-pier but Manica Architecture has been added to the team. San Francisco’s Golden State Warriors basketball team is in the final stages of selecting an architect of record for its planned arena-on-a-pier. The team recently brought in Manica Architecture, Kansas City, Mo., to work on the "bones" of the arena and related buildings, says P.J. Johnston, a team spokesman.Architect AECOM completed its first phase of design work in the spring and is still on the project but only as a strategic advisor
Photo by Luetta Callaway Lake Mead intake extension will connect to a newly finished, half-mile-long, $52-million stub tunnel. Southern Nevada Water Authority Expanded intake network is aimed at drawing more water at deeper levels from the shrinking lake. Drought-racked Las Vegas is undertaking an emergency project to keep water flowing as Lake Mead’s capacity dips below 40%.The Southern Nevada Water Authority has planned a $12-million extension to its 42-year-old raw-water Intake No. 1, which faces inoperability if the lake level falls 40 ft. Federal forecasters expect that to occur by May 2015 or sooner because of an abnormally dry winter.Lake
Related Links: P3s, Maintenance In the Future for NYC Area Innovation, Outreach Will Accompany Billions in Transportation Work in New York and New Jersey Public-private partnerships for a major bridge and airport-terminal renovation are highlights of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey’s plans for the next decade, which focus mainly on fixing infrastructure that, in some cases, is almost 90 years old.Pat Foye, port authority executive director, told members of the Transportation Research Forum’s New York chapter in early September that the agency will retain authority over tolling on the Goethals Bridge, which will undergo a $1.5-billion
Related Links: Solar Sees Growth But Clouds Loom California Plant To Double U.S. Solar Thermal Power Production Minneapolis-based energy provider Xcel Energy wants to triple large-scale solar-power generation in Colorado and significantly boost wind energy and electricity from the company's natural-gas-fueled plants.Xcel filed a report with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission on Sept. 9 requesting approval of the new plan, which includes an additional 450 MW of wind energy beyond the current 2,650 MW, another 170 MW of solar power above the 80 MW already being produced and an additional 317 MW of natural-gas-generated power. The plan includes the expected
Related Links: After Colorado Floods, More Rain; Hundreds Unaccounted HCN: Front Range Flooding 'Inevitable' At least eight people are dead and many more are still unaccounted for after nearly a week of heavy rains and catastrophic floods that devastated communities along Colorado’s Front Range and northeastern plains.Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from towns cut off by rising rivers and streams, many by helicopter and National Guard convoys. Cities became islands, cut off on all sides by downed bridges, flooded highways and mudslides. Chinook helicopters rescued hundreds of residents from Lyons, Jamestown and other foothill areas inaccessible by car.But
Photo courtesy of Colo. DoT Highway 34 in the Big Thompson Canyon west of Loveland, Colo., will be closed "indefinitely." Photo courtesy of Colo. DoT The heavy rains pushed rivers and streams above their historic flood levels and washed out highways, like State Highway 72 in Coal Creek Canyon west of Denver. Heavy rains continued pelting Colorado through the weekend, slowing the state's efforts to fortify regions hit by “biblical floods” that struck the state early last week.By some counts, officials said, about 700 residents who live near the foothills where the flooding hit, and across the Denver metro area,
Related Links: DOE Approves Plan to Export LNG from a Third Terminal Third Largest U.S. Utility Is Set To Spend Billions on Power and Gas Projects in Next Five Years U.S. LNG Boom Fueling Port Projects Construction on a $3.4-billion to $3.8-billion facility to liquefy and export natural gas could begin as early as 2014, according to Richmond, Va.-based utility Dominion Resources Inc.The U.S. Dept. of Energy on Sept. 11 gave conditional approval for Dominion’s Cove Point facilities in Calvert County, Md., to export 770 million cu ft of natural gas a day for 20 years to countries that don't
Related Links: DOE Approves Fourth LNG Export Facility Richmond, Va.-based Dominion Resources Inc., the third-largest power-utility owner in the U.S., will spend $4.6 billion on generation through 2018 and immediately begin converting the 227-MW Bremo coal-fired plant, located in central Virginia, to burn natural gas after receiving new state approval, company Chairman and CEO Thomas Farrell II told a Wall Street power-and-energy conference in New York City on Sept. 12.The company will complete the conversion of three coal-fired plants to burn biomass this year, he added at the Barclays CEO Energy-Power Conference.Dominion faces a 3,800-MW generation gap over the next
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