A consortium led by Parsons Transportation Group Inc., Washington, D.C., has won a $1.46-billion, design-build-operate-maintain contract for 20 miles of light-rail lines in downtown Houston. It is the Metropolitan Transit Authority (METRO) of Harris County’s largest contract. The Houston Rapid Transit JV also includes Granite Construction Co., Watsonville, Calif.; Kiewit Texas Construction, Fort Worth; and Stacy and Witbeck Inc., Alameda, Calif. The team will extend the north, east-end, southeast and uptown lines; build storage and inspection facilities; construct 32 stations; and renovate an existing operations center. METRO selected the runner-up Parsons team after breaking off talks with Boise-based Washington Group
Light-rail owners, planners and builders are enjoying unprecedented public support—and facing unprecedented challenges as a result. With more than 30 cities building light-rail systems, the need for workforce talent and funding is greater than ever. “There is no better time ever to be in transit,” said Leslie Rogers, a San Francisco-based regional administrator for the Federal Transit Administration, speaking to attendees of the Transportation Research Board/American Public Transportation Association Joint Light Rail Conference held April 19-21 in Los Angeles. “We have a great friend and partner in Washington. In thirty years we’ve never been as excited and re-energized.” But Rogers
The often-turbulent journey of Miami International Airport’s $6.2-billion capital improvement program is currently flying smoothly, yet officials also are braced for what they say is the most challenging construction period of all. “This is the decisive year,” says Jim Eldridge, construction manager for the joint venture of Odebrecht Construction, Inc., Coral Gables, Fla., and Parsons Transportation Group, Pasadena, Calif. “It’s like playing the Super Bowl every day for six months.” Photo: Andres Romero/ Parsons Odebrecht J.V. More than 800 construction workers a day are currently working on Miami’s expanding north terminal. Photo: Andres Romero/ Parsons Odebrecht J.V. The joint venture
The Interior Dept. is maintaining its aggressive pace in committing economic-stimulus funds for construction and maintenance projects around the country. Interior’s National Park Service on April 22 released a $750-million list of projects to be funded under the stimulus measure, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The roster contains 766 projects, including work on a wide range of buildings, monuments, trails and water and sewer lines. Plan includes $30.5 million for repairs to the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar followed up the park news on April 25 by rolling out the $500-million stimulus plan for the Bureau
Scheduled water deliveries from the Colorado River will be short 60% to 90% of the time by mid-century if human-caused climate change continues to reduce precipitation in the basin, say state researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. “The situation is horrible,” says Tim Barnett, Scripps research marine physicist. “We’re using all the water that is there, and there is going to be less of it.” Coincidentally, on May 15, scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, Colo., will publish a report with similar findings from a study of major rivers
It may be old hat in Europe and Asia to rocket through the landscape on a 200-plus-mile-an-hour train. But in America, all that promoters of high-speed passenger rail service have to show for three decades of effort are dusty feasibility studies stretching from Florida to California. Photo: California High Speed Rail Authority Simulation of high-speed trains in California. Yet by committing $13 billion in stimulus and budget funds to high-speed train travel to reduce traffic congestion and cut pollution, the Obama Administration is giving these projects a critical boost. A priority is a line that would whiz passengers 520 miles
Long-awaited link across the bay will ease traffic and create a signature gateway to Mumbai PHOTO BY JANICE L. TUCHMAN FOR ENR ? Inclined. Two four-legged pylons lean together, creating a formwork challenge. div id="articleExtrasA" PHOTOS LEFT COURTESY OF HCC; PHOTO RIGHT BY JANICE L. TUCHMAN FOR ENR ? Tower Head. Anchorage boxes were fabricated on-site to close tolerances and assembled in sections, with care for the exit angle of the guide pipes for the stay cables. div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" By Janice L. Tuchman in Mumbai with Neelam Mathews After years of legal delays, monsoons, heavy lifting and a
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar D-Minn.) says he plans to unveil a new multi-year surface transportation bill in "a couple of weeks" and adds that it will move to the House floor during the first week of June. Oberstar, who discussed the legislation at an Apr. 24 press conference, declined to disclose the price tag for the measure, which his panel's staff is now drafting. But highway and transit groups released a report that says annual capital spending by all levels of government must more than double to meet projected needs. The report, issued Apr. 24 by
Continuing the rollout of federal agencies’ economic-stimulus plans, the Interior Dept.’s National Park Service has released its $750-million list of projects to be funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The list, published on April 22, totals 766 projects, including work on buildings, monuments, trails and water and sewer lines. Photo: National Park Service Jefferson Memorial Related Links: State-by-state park service stimulus projects and funding allotments California receives the largest allocation, $97.4 million for 97 projects, including $16.1 million for work on trails, buildings and water lines in Golden Gate National Park in San Francisco. The District of Columbia
After years of legal delays, monsoons, heavy lifting and a lot of fancy formwork, the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, a 4.7- kilometer viaduct with two cable-stayed spans, made its final connection on April 20 and is slated to open to traffic in mid-May. When it does, the bypass over the sea will cut the time of a trip across Mahim Bay in Mumbai, India, from about 40 minutes to just six. Slide Show Photo: Janice L. Tuchman / ENR Two four-legged pylons lean together, creating a formwork challenge. Drivers who had to suffer through 23 traffic lights to make the trip
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