Related Links: Green-Infused Modular Classroom Targets 'Grid-Neutral' Status in School Construction ENR: Green Schoolhouses Research recently conducted by McGraw-Hill Construction among contractors working on school projects demonstrates strong growth in green education projects. To qualify for the study, contractors had to have completed new construction or major renovation or improvement projects at K–12 schools or higher-education institutions.The Green-School Market Of the more than 100 contractors that qualified for the study, 83% have done new or major-renovation green-school projects in the last three years, and 79% have done some green retrofits and operational improvements. During this period, the contractors performed a
Related Links: Boston Building Uses a Little Of Everything to Gain Foothold CEO John Fish Has 'Big, Audacious' Goals For Suffolk Construction Construction of two high-rises is expected to revitalize the 14.5-acre Christian Science Plaza, Boston's largest privately owned public space.The First Church of Christ, Scientist announced on Jan. 23 that it has chosen Carpenter and Co., Cambridge, Mass., as master developer of a 20-story and a 50-story tower. Upon topping out, the taller tower would be one of the tallest structures in Boston.The two project sites are situated on Belvidere and Dalton streets in Back Bay, south of the
Photo Courtesy of INDOT Related Links: P3 Planned For Ohio River Bridges Big Plans Anticipate Big Freight Moves Spending private money to fund infrastructure is nothing new to Indiana, whose Interstate 69 project through the state's southwestern quadrant is called the largest all-new federal highway under construction in the U.S. Four years after its groundbreaking, nearly half of the 142-mile-long stretch opened in November. It was funded in part by a $3.8-billion lease of the Indiana Toll Road in 2006. As the project moves into its next phase, the Indiana Dept. of Transportation is again looking for private investors.The future
Related Links: For Panamax Port Expansions, The Freight Wait is Almost Over Taking Asphalt's Temperature From automated vehicles to infrared bars that check for uniform temperatures in paved asphalt, the transportation industry is embracing high-tech tools and concepts. The current two-year federal legislation called MAP-21 promotes many such initiatives, including enhanced intelligent construction data, to help builders and operators achieve greater efficiency, reliability and safety in moving people and goods.MAP-21 also includes an emphasis on improved freight networks—a watershed inclusion that inspired multiple sessions at the Transportation Research Board's 92nd annual meeting on Jan. 13-17. The sessions consistently featured representatives
Related Links: New MassDOT Chief Plans Outreach Bridge Work Garners $7 Million Incentive The Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation hopes to spend $5.2 billion over 10 years on roads and bridges, including $1.17 billion on an accelerated bridge program.MassDOT released its plan on Jan. 14, stating the need for $1.02 billion in average annual new revenue to operate and expand. MassDOT Secretary Richard Davey says the plan involves eliminating bad practices in operating deficits in the highway and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority operations."We paid for almost $250 million in highway operations off the state credit card—that would end [under the plan],"
Related Links: Feds Clear Path For Offshore Wind Offshore Support for Onshore Wind Website of Atlantic Wind Connection/NJ Energy Link The developer of what is touted as the first U.S. offshore wind energy transmission system, to run from Virginia to New York City, has picked Bechtel Group as EPC contractor for the first 189-mile, $1.8-billion leg off the New Jersey coast.Atlantic Wind Connection, a consortium led by internet giant Google, said construction would begin in early 2016 and be built in three phases over a decade. The first phase is to be in service in 2019. Alstom also was named
Related Links: EPA Releases Framework to Give Cities More Flexibility in Managing Wastewater Copy of EPA memo A Jan. 18 Environmental Protection Agency memo could prove to be an important step in giving communities more flexibility in how they build and pay for major water infrastructure projects, according to water utility groups.The memo stresses the agency’s commitment to working with the mayors of municipalities and localities on how regional offices evaluate the ability of communities to pay for major water infrastructure programs mandated by consent decree. In June 2012, EPA released a framework--called the integrated planning and permitting process (IP3)--for
Photo courtesy of San Diego County Water Authority Facility, to be built near a powerplant in Carlsbad, Calif., would produce more than 50 million gal of desalinated water per day. Related Links: Two Desalination Plants Could Cost $540 Million Desalination Gets Second Look To Counter Drought Booming Parched Cities Trigger Search for New Water Sources Desalination Project Website-San Diego County Water Authority Israel’s IDE Technologies Ltd. has won a large contract to plan, equip, operate and maintain a seawater desalination plant in Carlsbad, Calif.The $922-million facility, set for completion in 2016, will be largest facility of its type in in
Mortenson Construction The 200 MW-Prairie Rose Wind Farm in Hardwick, Minn., was completed in November, 2012, just a month before a federal production tax credit was set to expire. The expiring PTC drove construction of a record 12,000 MW of wind farms in 2012. Related Links: Exelon Loses AWEA Membership Over Anti-PTC Stance Booms, Busts Stunt Growth Of Wind Power The wind power industry won a big victory in the "fiscal cliff" bill early this month: a one-year, $12-billion extension of the production tax credit. As important as the extension itself was a change in the extension’s language that allows
Related Links: Mississippi Blues; When the Water Doesn't Run (NPR) Corps Praised for Averting Mississippi River Shipping Shutdown (Washington Post) Extraordinarily low water levels in the middle reaches of the Mississippi River have complicated barge service and forced companies that supply, deliver and use aggregate and other barge-delivered construction materials to scramble and get creative, sources at those companies said last week.Still, they said that, in nearly all cases, construction contractors have been able to secure required materials when they are needed and that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is doing all it can to maintain acceptable water levels
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