Like an aging Hollywood diva attempting to attract new roles, Los Angeles International Airport is getting a $1.5-billion makeover in order to better appeal to airlines and customers. A gleaming 1.3-million-sq-ft addition to the Tom Bradley International Terminal, dubbed Bradley West, headlines the city's largest public-works project. Photo courtesy LAWA SOARING HOPES Airport officials pin the reputation of a revamped LAX on a new, modern terminal building. Related Links: Los Angeles Revamps Terminal to Save International Business “This is an effort not to grow the existing airport but to grow the quality of service,” says Michael Doucette, chief planner with
As they sift through debris from one of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history, designers, builders and inspectors in Joplin, Mo., are evaluating the condition of the structures that survived the May 22 disaster and learning more about those that did not. Courtesy Thornton Tomasetti KILLING FLOOR An EF5 tornado cut a mile-wide swath through the heart of Joplin, Mo., leaving more than 150 people dead. The Reston, Va.-based American Society of Civil Engineers sent a technical assessment team to Joplin to evaluate the extent of the damage and determine whether modifications to ASCE standards are warranted.ASCE also plans to
A resort hotel company's plan to build an $824-million hotel and conference center northeast of Denver near Denver International Airport, and a separate proposal to relocate the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo complex there, have Denver tourism and city officials worried that the projects could draw hotel business away from the Mile-High CityNashville, Tenn.-based Gaylord Entertainment Co. has announced plans to build the hotel and conference center, outside of Denver in neighboring Aurora County, with a planned late 2015 opening. Gaylord is buying the land from LNR Property LLC, Miami Beach, Fla., for an undisclosed amount; the sale is
In preliminary discussions with Cape Wind, Siemens Energy has offered to provide debt and equity financing for up to $2.6 billion for the alternative energy supplier’s proposed 130-turbine, 468-MW wind farm off the Massachusetts coast. Cape Wind agreed to purchase 130 of Siemen’s 3.6 MW turbines from Cape Wind last March, according to Mark Rodgers, spokesman for Cape Wind.“Nothing is finalized, but we appreciate the expression of interest,” Rodgers says.“We’ve always made it clear that we are not only willing but also capable of helping to support the whole project,” said Josef Kaeser, chief financial officer of Munich-based Siemens at
U Canyon—a huge, windowless concrete monolith that housed secret Cold War-era plutonium and uranium processing work at the U.S. Energy Dept.'s Hanford site, the former nuclear-weapons production facility in eastern Washington—has sat empty and inert for more than four decades. Now, however, the cavernous structure will become a beehive of activity as a technology test site, featuring a first-time DOE process in which 20,000 cu yd of specially formulated, cement-like grout is pumped beneath the edifice to stabilize its radioactivity before final demolition. U.S. Dept. of Energy Crews are filling underground cells with grout at the former nuclear weapons plant
More than four years after an EF5 tornado flattened Greensburg, Kan., and killed 11 of its 1,500 residents, business and home owners continue to rebuild in a fashion that embraces sustainable design, if not more stringent building codes. Related Links: Joplin, Mo., Devastated by May 22 Tornado, Learning Lessons From Rubble “We adopted the International Building Code in 2006 and haven't made any changes since then,” says Greensburg Mayor Bob Dixon.However, the majority of those who have rebuilt have incorporated safe rooms into their homes and workplaces. Further, if the rebuilding received financial assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
Builders of a 201,000-sq-ft art museum set in a blasted-out ravine in northwest Arkansas knew they would be digging themselves into a hole when they signed on to construct the pet project of Alice Walton, heiress to the Walmart discount chain-store fortune. They were prepared for headaches associated with the job's remote location in Walton's 120-acre forest. They had braced themselves for building structures, dams and ponds in a flood-prone streambed. And they were prepared for architect Moshe Safdie's curved forms and cable-supported roofs. “We were quite intrigued by the cable structures across the creek—which to our knowledge had never
As mass transit officials, struggling to keep aging systems in usable condition, explored the possibility of private-public partnerships, Republicans unveiled on June 15 a plan to take the Northeast Corridor away from Amtrak and privatize it. Photo by AP Wideworld AMTRAK FACES ATTACK Republican-led proposal would strip Amtrak of Northeast Corridor ownership. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) fleshed out a plan to draw private-sector money to upgrade passenger rail service from Washington, D.C., to Boston to high-speed levels.The plan would remove from Amtrak's control its 363 route miles of the 457-mile-long Northeast Corridor (NEC). The proposal
Recent bid openings for subway projects in New York City and San Francisco revealed a range of prices and teaming partners. In New York City, the Metropolitan Transportation Agency opened bids on June 7 for a contract to furnish and install systems and finishes on the No. 7 subway line extension. A joint venture of Skanska Civil and Railworks was the low bidder at $513.7 million, followed by the joint venture SPP, at $539.8 million; Tutor Perini, at $542.2 million; a team of Judlau and Citnalta, at $563 million; CCA, at $598.5 million; and CHRE Construction LLC, at $758.5 million,
Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor crisis in Japan, the U.S. nuclear industry is more closely scrutinizing existing facilities, and long-standing problems are placing some plants under the microscope . Courtesy of Progress Energy Crystal River plant has cracks in walls. Courtesy of NextEra Energy Engineers note alkali silica reaction at Seabrook. “U.S. nuclear facilities are under constant inspection regimens, but since the earthquake we are going at it even stronger,” says Mitch Singer, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based industry organization.In one example, Progress Energy's Crystal River plant in Florida—offline since September 2009 for a refueling
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