Southern California will spend hundreds of millions of dollars to repair water treatment and wastewater treatment infrastructure damaged in the April 4 Baja Earthquake, which was registered at 7.2 magnitude, state and city officials say. In the city of El Centro, Director of Public Works/City Engineer Terry Hagen estimated that local public and private interests sustained $25 million in damage, although that estimate could grow. As many as 24 condominium units were evacuated when four of six 2-inch-dia anchor bolts sheared off an empty landmark, a 1924-era water tank. The city awarded an emergency $77,000 contract to remove the tank
Although combinations of in-cylinder systems and exhaust after-treatment are the most likely ways manufacturers will meet clean-diesel requirements over the next five years, researchers are looking at alternative fuels, including gasoline. This alt-fuel interest is being pushed by the industry’s hope of finding a cleaner and more cost-effective way to power construction machinery. Photo: Ricardo Inc. Ricardo’s dual-fuel, flex-fuel mill debuted this year in a pickup truck. Related Links: Next Round of Federal Regulations Has Suppliers Retooling Clean Diesel Three Ways Manufacturers Will Meet the Tier 4 Standards Electrification already has made its debut in commercially available construction equipment during
Image: West 8 Art New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on April 12 an agreement that gives the city long-term planning and development control of Governor’s Island, a 172-acre chunk of largely undeveloped real estate in New York Harbor. The announcement of the agreement preceded the mayor’s unveiling of a sweeping redevelopment plan for the onetime military base that includes the creation of an 87-acre public park, a waterfront promenade and public space. The city also has plans to build a high school on the island, while setting aside 30 acres for private development, which could include a satellite
Several months ahead of schedule and less than a year after driving the first 66-inch concrete cylinder pile, Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure Group is rapidly completing a 7,490-ft.-long storm-surge protection wall that is the central part of a roughly two-mile long surge barrier in New Orleans. Photo: Angelle Bergeron April 2 Manson made a 475 CY concrete pour, the last large casting for the barge gate. var so = new FlashObject("http://natalie.feedroom.com/construction/natoneclip/Player.swf","Player", "300", "169", "8", "#FFFFFF");so.addVariable("skin", "natoneclip");so.addVariable("site", "construction");so.addVariable("fr_story", "06d97bec5b824c5cbfecead78733721f891f8f9f&rf");so.addVariable("hostURL", document.location.href);so.addParam("quality", "high");so.addParam("allowFullScreen", "true");so.addParam("menu", "false");so.write("flashcontent"); Early Protection: Surge Barrier Is Ahead of Schedule Photo: Angelle Bergeron The placement of a significant portion of
Concrete groups are on tenterhooks, waiting for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to publish a proposed rule that aims to designate fly ash and other coal-combustion by-products as hazardous waste. The concrete sector is concerned even about the ramifications of a “hybrid” rule that would allow beneficial uses of CCBs to continue. Photo: Sue Pearsall/ENR Proposed federal rule would complicate production and disposal of concrete structures. Related Links: Coal-Ash Regulation Could Quash Plans To Build Plant Major among these beneficial uses is fly ash in concrete. The ingredient, a partial replacement for portland cement, is known to increase concrete’s constructibility,
Contractors on the centerpiece of San Francisco’s $4.6-billion upgrade of the Hetch Hetchy water system, a $215.3-million tunnel under San Francisco Bay that will replace the 1920s-era pipeline structure, were told to start work on April 1. Officials say the seismically enhanced structure and others planned will better protect the city water supply in an earthquake, such as the Southern California temblor on April 4. Photo: San Francisco Pulbic Utilities Commission Image shows underwater pipeline and tunnel, which will have new seismic protections. The five-mile-long tunnel will replace old structures with a 9-ft-dia welded steel pipeline bored as deep as
The Obama Administration’s decision to open up offshore oil and gas development in Southern and mid-Atlantic states, new areas of the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic Ocean is drawing praise from oil and gas industry officials. They say the development could provide thousands of new jobs for contractors. On March 31, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said land in those offshore regions could be leased for oil and gas development beginning in 2012. He set two conditions: There must be interest from industry, and environmental benchmarks must be met. California and Florida’s east coast remains off limits. The administration
Plans to build a new, $50-million facility to recycle fly ash in southern Maryland for Atlanta-based Mirant could fall through if the Environmental Protection Agency designates the coal combustion by-product as a hazardous waste, says Mirant’s Misty Allen , the utility’s director of external affairs. Photo: The Sefa Group The proposed recycling facility would use a new technology that burns 100% of carbon from coal ash. Allen says Mirant filed an application on March 26 with the Maryland Public Service Commission to build a facility in Morgantown, Md., that would recycle up to 400,000 tons of coal ash per year.
Stating Florida must comply with the original 1992 consent decree to address Everglades pollution, U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno granted on March 31 the Miccosukee tribe’s motion to compel completion of a key reservoir. Since 2008, the work has stopped on the $700-million project in Palm Beach County; instead, state funds have been plowed into buying private sugar-growing land near Lake Okeechobee for a new restoration plan. Parties now are weighing the potential impact. Landowner U.S. Sugar Corp. says the ruling “does not preclude” the state’s continuing land purchase to meet the consent decree’s terms. Tribal officials and those
Argentina has completed a $314-million, 37.7-km natural-gas pipeline across the Strait of Magellan. The 24-in. (61-cm) undersea gas pipeline links Cabo Espiritu Santo in Tierra del Fuego province with Cabo Vírgenes in Santa Cruz province. Government officials say the new line, built by a consortium of Royal Boskalis Westminster and Allseas Group, will begin transporting 5.5 million cu m per day in June, with an additional 2 million cu m per day coming on line in early 2011. Previously, the gas fields in Argentina’s remote south only were connected to the mainland gas network via the San Martin pipeline, which
RSS
