The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority is facing its worst budget crisis in 30 years -- and it will only get worse if a six-year transportation bill waiting to be reauthorized is cut as the Obama Administration vows to rein in domestic spending, said its chairman and CEO. Jay Walder, who rejoined the agency last July after a 19-year stint in London, asked attendees at a New York Building Congress luncheon Jan. 28 to approach him directly with ideas about how the MTA can simplify its "risky, cumbersome" contracting process, described as the "MTA premium" by the industry. "Come to
The U.S. embassy in Haiti is one of the rare significant structures in Port-au-Prince to have survived the Jan. 12, 7.0 magnitude earthquake with only minor damage, none of it structural. Photo: Pbase.com/beulahchapel Construction work on Port-au-Prince embassy in 2007. As a result, the embassy has become an important base for several relief efforts. The embassy is a relatively new structure. It was built as a design-build project by Fluor Corp., as part of the U.S. State Dept’s overhaul of its global facilities. Construction started on the 134,000 sq-ft office building with its 54,874 sq ft of support structures in
The rebuilding of Taum Sauk Upper Reservoir is a project of many superlatives. The upper bowl of the 440-MW pumped-storage system sits on top of Missouri’s highest peak, 1,590-ft Proffit Mountain. It is believed to be North America’s largest roller-compacted concrete dam. When the original earth-and-rockfill dike was over- topped and failed in December 2005, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt (R) called the damage done by the 4,365 acre-ft of water it released “the worst man-made disaster in the history of Missouri.” And the $10-million civil penalty imposed on St. Louis-based utility AmerenUE by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the
Denver’s Regional Transportation District says it will need about $2.4 billion more than expected to build all components of the city’s FasTracks rail expansion. The agency, which released its 2010 FasTracks budget in January, puts the total at $6.6 billion, well beyond the $4.2 billion it can collect from taxes in the near future. RTD oversees bus and rail transit for the six-county Denver metro area. In 2004, the agency spearheaded an election in which voters approved $3.95 billion in new taxes for FasTracks. The program aims to build 122 miles of new commuter-rail and light-rail lines, 18 miles of
The Federal Transit Administration approved last month the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority’s revised testing plan for eleven 30-year-old foundations that will be used to support piers for the new Dulles Metrorail extension in northern Virginia to Dulles International Airport. Photo: Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project Team Agency will begin tests on piers originally built in the 1970s to see if they can handle new light-rail system to Dulles Airport, after initial criticism. The concrete foundations, supported by concrete and steel caissons driven 50 to 60 ft deep, are among 13 that were installed by the Virginia Dept. of Transportation in the
Five teams comprising major U.S. and overseas soft-ground tunneling expertise are seeking approval to bid the third and final contract, estimated at $500 million, of an $8.7-billion rail link under the Hudson River between New Jersey and Manhattan. The contract, to be awarded next fall, will involve building 14,600 ft of soft-ground tunnels 110 ft under the river. Requesting prequalification for the contract are a joint venture of J.F. Shea, Schiavone and Kenny Construction; a team of S.A. Healy, China Construction America and Halmar; a JV of Spain’s FCC Construction, Austria’s Beton and Monierbau and U.S.-based Ferreira Construction; a team
Despite fears that it will take months to rebuild port facilities in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, that were wrecked by an earthquake on Jan. 12, construction and shipping industry representatives say the damage will not prevent them from pouring building materials and equipment into the country as soon as they are given the go-ahead by officials. Photo: USDOTMA The U.S. has mobilized six shallow-draft catamarans for immediate use. “The port being destroyed won’t be a hindrance...not if you have an experienced heavy-lift operator,” says Jerry Nagel, CEO of U.S. operations for Rickmers-Linie, Hamburg, Germany. “Most of the time we bring equipment to
Federal and contractor management failures are to blame for delays and cost overruns on a $300-million powerplant project in Afghanistan, says a new report by the U.S. Special Inspector General of Afghanistan Reconstruction. The 105-megawatt, dual-fuel Tarakhil Power Plant near Kabul was supposed to be finished by last April. It is now expected to be completed by March 31, a year late and about $40 million over budget. The Jan. 20 report blames the U. S. Agency for International Development and lead contractor Black & Veatch Corp., Overland Park, Kansas. It notes that, “under pressure of political urgency,” the original
Samsung C&T, Korean Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) and the province of Ontario announced on Jan. 21 a $6.6-billion deal—the largest of its kind, they claim—to build, own and operate facilities in the province to produce 500 MW of solar power and 2,000 MW of wind power by 2016. Samsung also will build four manufacturing plants for wind- and solar-energy parts by 2016 and oversee all facility and equipment engineering, construction, procurement and financing. KEPCO will design and connect facilities to the transmission and distribution systems and operate them. Ontario will help procure land. An Ontario Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure
A second phase of coal-ash cleanup at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston, Tenn., fossil-fuel powerplant could take at least four more years and up to $741 million to complete, says an engineering and cost analysis done for the utility and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is overseeing the work. Released for comment on Jan. 18, the report covers new remediation options for what remains of more than 5.4 million cu yd of waste that leaked from a collapsed-site dredge cell in late 2008. Cleanup could total $1.2 billion. Knoxville, Tenn.-based TVA says the first phase of dredging in the