PHOTO COURTESY OF NeW YORK DEP The $800-million New York City portion of the new City Tunnel No. 3 supply line is designed to provide redundancy for an aging system. Regardless of size, location and system configuration, most of the water and wastewater utilities in the U.S. share a common attribute: the continuing need to upgrade and improve their treatment facilities and underground infrastructure.Though the sluggish post-recession economy has largely removed capacity expansion from the list of priorities, there remains no shortage of needs on utilities' to-do lists.Most often, the driver is meeting federal discharge mandates, as is the case
Related Links: Corps Unveils Public National Levee Database Corps Pulls Out All the Stops To Cope With Rising River Corps of Engineers' List of 93 Mississippi Basin Critical Flood Repair Projects As time races toward fall floods and potential disaster along the Mississippi River and Tributaries System, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is at work on 10 projects—damaged by high water this past spring and summer—that the agency deems most critical to protect life and safety. This work is worth an estimated $75.8 million, but the Corps wants to focus on the long term. Both the public and policymakers
Photo Courtesy of AP Wideworld The Chamber of Turkish Engineers and Architects says 40% of Turkeys housing needs to be reinforced or rebuilt to avert disaster in seismic events such as the one that struck the province of Van. Scenes of collapsed buildings and rescuers pulling survivors from rubble once again show the acute need for seismic retrofitting and better- quality construction in Turkey.A sense of déjà vu envelops Turkey at the start of November, with 601 dead, 4,151 injured and 3,713 buildings destroyed or uninhabitable as a result of a 7.2-magnitude quake that struck the eastern province of Van
PHOTO BY ArcelorMittal Steel structural tower rises in London at Olympic Games site. The U.K.'s tallest sculpture—at 114.5 meters—reached structural completion on Oct. 28, when crews placed the top section of steel-tube diagrid. Designed as a permanent observation platform over London's emerging Olympic Park, the tower contains some 2,000 tonnes of steelwork. It was designed by local artist Anish Kapoor, along with structural engineer Cecil Balmond, former chairman of Arup Group Ltd., London. Steelcraft Erection Services Ltd., Dalton, is building the ArcelorMittal Orbit tower with tubular modules fabricated by the company's affiliate Watson Steel Structures Ltd., Bolton. The tower is
ENR Art Dept. Retail and commercial building starts. PHOTO COURTESY Forest City Enterprises, Inc. Picking Up Forest City is building a mixed-use development around the Barclays Center Arena in Brooklyn. Related Links: The Top 425 Owners Main Story ENR Top Owners Sourcebook: Overview, Rankings and Market Sector Reports With the retail sector languishing, American developers are clinging to the renewed demand for construction of office and apartment buildings.Providing modest relief, the sector movement is a result of converging market factors, including historically low vacancy rates in offices and a backlog in apartment units, as demand catches up to low levels
Cracks in 13 cast-in-place pier caps supporting three bridges on the new Intercounty Connector toll highway in Maryland may be the result of a design flaw, according to the Maryland State Highway Administration.More than 40 cracks—ranging in width from 0.005 to 0.035 in. and in length from 7 in. to 3 ft, 8 in.—were discovered during a routine MSHA close-out and acceptance inspection of the ICC's $2.56-billion, 7.2-mile first phase.The project's first-phase contractor is Intercounty Constructors, a joint venture of Granite Construction Co., Watsonville, Calif.; Corman Construction Inc., Annapolis Junction, Md.; and G.A. & F.C. Wagman Inc., York, Pa.Parsons Transportation
Related Links: Upstate New York Project Will Harness Flywheel Power Firms' Finances Raise Questions Beacon Power Corp., which developed a first-of-a-kind energy storage facility in New York with the help of a $43-million loan guarantee, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Oct. 30 in federal court.The company, based in Tyngsboro, Mass., built a $69-million, 20-MW flywheel storage facility in upstate New York designed to keep the flow of power steady.Unlike Fremont, Calif.-based Solyndra, which received a $535-million Dept. of Energy loan guarantee and filed for bankruptcy in September, Beacon is generating revenue, but apparently not enough to keep it afloat.LeChase
The merger of two of the largest U.S. pipeline companies could create a heavyweight able to finance needed pipeline infrastructure, says Fadel Gheit, a senior oil-and-gas analyst with New York City-based Oppenheimer & Co.“I think it will create long-term projects and make investments where [they are] needed,” Gheit says of the proposed merger between Kinder Morgan Inc. and El Paso Corp., announced on Oct. 16. Both firms are headquartered in Houston. “We don't have enough pipeline to take gas where it is used,” Gheit says, a situation that has existed in the pipeline sector for decades.For now, though, both El
How did a company like FedEx Corp. set its strategic direction for sustainability? That was the task given to D. Mitchell Jackson, FedEx staff vice president for environmental affairs and sustainability, when he took the post in 2007.Staff members suggested reducing fuel usage. Jackson responded, “That's a tactic, not a strategy.” He found the answer in what FedEx does every day. “We deliver eight million packages, but more than that, we connect the world, allowing customers to do business in 220 countries and territories.” Its sustainability strategy, therefore, was to “connect the world responsibly and resourcefully.”Jackson, a mechanical engineer by
The Council on Tall Buildings & Urban Habitat is vigorously advancing its mission—to help upgrade skyscraper production by offering better design tools and standardizing practice worldwide. In a fundamental shift, the 42-year-old CTBUH is engaging in research, including a $2-million fire study that will culminate in a real building burn.Next year, CTBUH plans to publish five design guidelines on wind-tunnel testing, structural outriggers, performance-based seismic design, column shortening, foundations and natural ventilation. “There is a need for better tall buildings around the world,” said Antony Wood, CTBUH's executive director, at the CTBUH 2011 World Conference in Seoul. The Oct. 10-12
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