The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Wetlands Reserve Program has agreed to pay approximately $89 million to acquire permanent easements on nearly 26,000 contiguous acres in Florida’s Northern Everglades Watershed. In some sections, the government will restore and improve the wetlands; in others, it will recharge the aquifers and ensure the wetlands remain free of development and available for bird migration. Once the restoration is complete, officials expect to see improvement in the quality of the water draining into the Everglades and nearby habitat within two years. The voluntary Wetlands Reserve Program worked with four landowners and
BP is keeping a lid on its runaway Mancondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, despite four leaks that developed in and around the well since July 14, when BP installed new shut-off valves. BP and federal emergency response officials believe the well bore is sound; they will continue tests in 24-hour increments with the valves closed. BP and federal overseers agree the “seepage” is not enough to signal a failure of the well bore, although they are watching closely. Two leaks are in equipment at the wellhead, and two others are “a few thousand feet” and two miles away,
During a nine-course meal at a Chinese restaurant in New York City on July 10, Wang Da Sui, design master of China and part of a panel of experts approving the structural scheme for the 632-meter-tall Shanghai Tower, confirmed that the innovative architecture of the twisted and tapering skyscraper—sheathed in sheer glass like a Baccarat crystal—is a guinea pig for crafting China’s first supertall-building code. The code, for structures 300 m and taller with “serious irregularity,” requires performance-based design and extra-stiff frames and puts strict limits on building acceleration. Wang, who also heads the code committee, said the code will
BP kept a lid on its run-away Mancondo well in the Gulf of Mexico July 20, despite four leaks that have developed in and around it since July 14, when BP closed newly-installed shut-off valves on the well. Photo: courtesy of BP Workers at BP's HIVE, or Highly Immersive Visualization Environment, in Houston on July 19, keeping an eye on containment cap on the Mancondo well. BP and the government believe the well retains integrity and have agreed to continue tests in 24-hour increments with the cap in place and valves closed, officials say. The well blew out April 20
Construction crews hit water on July 6 while digging 600 ft below Lake Mead in southern Nevada for the third “straw” water tunnel. The incident, which was not life-threatening, will delay the project’s progress by months. Vegas Tunnel Constructors LLC––a joint venture of S.A. Healy Co., Lombard, Ill., and Impreglio S.p.A., Sesto San Giovanni, Italy ––won the $447-million design-build contract in March 2008. On June 28, an underground fault breached, causing water seepage for four days and making work in the tunnel impossible. Workers were building a 100-ft-long starter shaft for the $25-million Herrenknecht 1,500-ton tunnel-boring machine for a 20-ft-dia,
Florida Dept. of Transportation officials and their advisers aren’t likely to forget the year 2008. FDOT was trying to close on two different billion-dollar-plus public-private partnerships, but the financial markets were collapsing. In September, while still restructuring the year-delayed Port of Miami Tunnel (POMT) deal, FDOT accepted bids for a $2-billion Interstate 595 expansion. Just days later, emblematic of market conditions, the financial giant Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. “Credit was just not obtainable,” recalls Jeff Parker, founder of Jeffrey A. Parker & Associates Inc., Chilmark, Mass., a financial adviser to FDOT. “The bid assumed $900 million in private activity
Causes and solutions are proving elusive on an Oregon bridge project in which two bents moved out of plumb during construction. Last winter, the trouble was noticed on the $215-million U.S. 20 Pioneer Mountain-Eddyville highway near the Oregon coast. Joe Squire, project manager for the Oregon Dept. of Transportation, says a lateral load from adjacent fill and subsurface ground pressure may have caused the shifts in two of the 20 bents on the 10-bridge project. The project consists of a six-and-a-half mile section of new road that bypasses a 10-mile stretch of substandard highway. Six of the 10 bridges are
The Washington State Dept. of Transportation describes the highway off-ramp improperly built on a new interchange in east Tacoma as “unfortunate and embarrassing.” It’s also expensive. A change order for nearly $900,000 —out of the project’s contingency fund at the cost of WSDOT—was worked out with project contractor Guy F. Atkinson Construction. The Broomfield, Colo.-based contractor already has started removing retaining-wall panels to flatten the ramp, which was mistakenly built at the wrong grade. Photo: WSDOT Demolition begins for the fix to a wrongly placed Tacoma, Wash., interchange ramp. The eastbound ramp of the $119.9-million Nalley Valley interchange—at which Interstate
How do you pack the construction of four new 14-mile- long lanes, 58 new bridges and 900,000 sq ft of retaining wall into an active highway carrying 200,000 daily vehicles and do it in four years? Virginia’s Capital Beltway expansion team would answer: Pack all the players into one room—early and often. Then, as Virginia Dept. of Transportation senior project manager Larry Cloyed says, the team has to live by the motto “Get it done.” The $1.35-billion reconstruction of the Capital Beltway—including the addition of two high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in each direction—is being performed by a private concessionaire that
Alyeska Pipeline CEO Kevin Hostler will retire from management of the 800-mile Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) in September, three months earlier than planned. “Retiring at the end of September is good for the pipeline,” Hostler, 55, said in a statement. Photo: courtesy Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. Alyeska Pipeline CEO Kevin Hostler Hostler announced on July 7 that his last day is September 30. Members of the TAPS Owner Committee are now looking for a new CEO and will appoint an interim CEO if the position is not filled in time. Hostler’s announcement will not alter controversial staffing or maintenance
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