Photo: Luetta Callaway Southern Nevada’s Water Authority recently unveiled its newest megamachine: a $25-million custom-made hybrid tunneling-boring machine that operates in both the open and closed positions, meaning the drill face is pressurized for more efficient ground and water control. It took Schwanau, Germany-based Herrenknecht AG 17 months to design and manufacture the 1,500-ton, 600-ft-long TBM, which is being used as part of the third raw-water intake tunnel project at Lake Mead. The additional straw is needed since lake levels have dipped 110 ft since 2000, leaving it at half capacity. In March 2008, SNWA awarded a $447-million design-build contract
The U.S Army Corps unveiled a $1.7-billion, 10-year plan this week to restore the ailing Anacostia River in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to health. U.S. officials brief public on river cleanup. The plan, two years in the making, identifies 3,000 projects to help restore the severely polluted river and watershed spanning 176 sq miles of land through a combination of stormwater controls, stream restoration, wetland creation and restoration, fish blockage removal, reforestation and controlling trash and chemical contamination “Now we can begin even more aggressive action to clean up the Anacostia River,” said U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
A massive,1.7-million-cu-yd, deep-soil-mixing project is powering up in eastern New Orleans, and veterans of the technique say it’s probably the largest such project ever undertaken. Photo: Angelle Bergeron At 1.7 million cu yd, deep-soil-mixing job nearly triples the volume of Boston’s Big Dig. 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", "bf145635c641e16b70fe8531bcc9d0476f7d3458&rf");so.addVariable("hostURL", document.location.href);so.addParam("quality", "high");so.addParam("allowFullScreen", "true");so.addParam("menu", "false");so.write("flashcontent"); Joint-venture partners Archer Western Contractors, Atlanta, Ga., and Alberici Enterprises, Overland, Mo., are strengthening a levee maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers so it can be increased in height to +28 ft from its current +17 ft without widening
As invisible as the global recession, dust from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano cast a cloud over the April 19 opening of Bauma in Munich. The triennial construction-equipment show was expected to draw over 500,000 people. Photo: Bauma Eighty of Bauma’s 3,150 booths were left unattended when the show opened. With the city’s international airport shut, prospective visitors joined hundreds of thousands of Europeans left stranded. Creating engine-stalling dust, the April 14 volcanic eruption triggered halts to a reported 75% of European commercial flights, with total bans in Britain and elsewhere. What should have been a two-hour flight for Nigel Chell, communications
The legal battle over the U.S. Energy Dept.’s nuclear-waste storage program took a turn on April 14, when the agency halted closure of Nevada’s Yucca Mountain repository following a legal challenge by Washington state. Its suit challenges the order’s legality and includes a request to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to withdraw the facility’s application. The state says DOE lacks authority to terminate Yucca Mountain, claiming the move hikes risks at federal nuclear-waste sites, including Hanford in eastern Washington. An appeals court in Washington, D.C., ordered DOE to halt layoffs of repository staff and work by contractors until after May
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,
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