Related Links: Solyndra Bankruptcy Puts DOE on Hot Seat Melbourne, Fla.-based National Solar announced on Sept. 26 that it will build a $1.5-billion, 400-MW solar farm in northern Florida, the largest in the Southeast announced to date.The company is still securing financing for the project, says spokesman Ryan Banfill, but the company expects to begin construction in the first quarter of 2012. Over the course of five years, it will build at least 20 20-MW photovoltaic solar farms in Gadsden County, Fla. Each is expected to cost about $70 million and cover 200 acres.Greeley, Colo.-based Hensel Phelps will design, build
Related Links: Chesapeake Bay Remains at Risk The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority's wastewater treatment plant is going green in a big way. The authority, known as DC Water, is in the early stages of projects that will help meet stringent regulatory requirements for nitrogen as well as make improvements primarily aimed at improving water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.One of the projects is to reduce total nitrogen in the plant system to under 4 milligrams per liter (mg/l) from current levels of about 5 mg/l. The second approach will build a system of tunnels to accommodate and
Photo courtesy of Vermont Agency of Transportation Hoping to restore roads before winter snow arrives, National Guard troops help fix three miles of state road in Cavendish, Vermont. Related Links: Hurricane Irene Provides a Laboratory For Testing Bridge Innovations Before winter arrives, crews are working hard in the Northeast to assess and repair infrastructure damaged from tropical storms Irene and Lee in August and September, respectively.Vermont was hit hard by Irene. The storm killed five, closed roads, bridges and rail lines, shut down the state office complex in Waterbury and left more than 50,000 people without power.Dept. of Transportation officials
The American Society of Civil Engineers has decided that emergency changes to wind-load provisions in ASCE's 2010 building design standard are not needed. ASCE recently reviewed the provisions, prompted by a red flag raised by structural engineer-researcher Emil Simiu, who says the wind standard is flawed and needlessly complex. SIMIUInconsistencies in chapters 26-31 of the 608-page “Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures: ASCE/SEI 7-10” can result in “unconservative” designs, says Simiu, a member of the 2010 standard's subcommittee on wind loads. “Some buildings can be produced that do not meet the intended risk levels implicit in the standard,”
“Tower Crews Get Royal Treatment” inaccurately references Atlantic Scaffolding, LaPorte, Texas, as the hoist provider on One World Trade Center.Atlantic Hoisting & Scaffolding LLC, Carlstadt, N.J., is providing scaffolding and hoist solutions for the project. Earlier this year, the firm was renamed Safway Atlantic LLC, after an acquisition by Safway Services LLC.Karla CuculiDirector of MarketingSafway Services LLC, Waukesha, Wis.
The article “Tower Crews Get Royal Treatment” by Nadine M. Post was very interesting with regard to the construction means and methods of One World Trade Center. I especially appreciated the visual aids that you provided (plans and isometric elevations) to facilitate understanding the process, though I suppose you were limited in what you could outline in your article.As you state in the piece, comprehensive and meticulous planning was crucial in establishing an efficient process that would achieve the schedule.Gino di Ciocco Hepworth, Di Ciocco & Associates Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Photo courtesy of the NPS Inspectors used rappelling techniques to assess repairs for the 555-ft-tall obelisk. The magnitude-5.8 earthquake that rattled most of the eastern U.S. on Aug. 25 created new cracks and spalling in the upper sections of the 555-ft, 5-in.-tall Washington Monument in the nation's capital. While the extent of quake-related damage was not a surprise, the size of several spalls was larger than expected, says a forensic engineer who conducted an inspection for the U.S. National Park Service.The survey team of Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc., Northbrook, Ill., extracted any spalls that represented a potential fall hazard
Map by ENR The 1,483-kilometer industrial corridor from Delhi to Mumbai would contain nine megazones for industry, spread out along a future high-speed freight rail. Related Links: The Ten Most Noteworthy Rail Projects: Overview and Related Stories Project: Delhi-Mumbai Industrial CorridorCost: $90 BillionThe Indian Cabinet last month approved the restructuring and financing for the future $90-billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, opening the way for forward for the ambitious megaproject planned along a future 1,483-kilometer high-speed-rail freight corridor. India’s rail ministry expects to invite bids this year for $2.2 billion worth of civil engineering contracts for the rail corridor’s first phase. The
Courtesy of Mahlum. DIET Hospital is designed to use nearly two-thirds less energy than most Pacific Northwest facilities. Courtesy of the Miller Hull Partnership. ENERGY MISER At 52,000 sq ft, office building is designed to use 16,000 Btu per sq ft per year. Two small projects in Washington state are emphasizing sustainable design beyond the norm. The 38,000-sq-ft Peace Island Medical Center is designed to use almost one-third the energy of a typical hospital in the Northwest. In Seattle, the 52,000-sq-ft Bullitt Center is a net-zero energy-use project that is designed to produce as much energy as it uses over
Click on each box below to view more about the project Interactive Image Map Since the dawn of the industrial age, railroads have been a vehicle for people, cargo and dreams of a better world. They remain a critical part of the transportation infrastructure of 2011. ENR has identified ten of the world’s most notable new railway construction projects based on geographic variety and cross-border economic impact. The projects include Angola’s Benguela Railway, China’s proposed line in Iran from Tehran west to Khosravi, China’s own Harbin-Dalian High-Speed Rail Line and China’s Lanzhou-Chongqing Rail Line. There are also reports on a
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