A final report is pending on how technological advances can aid in the diagnosis, and ultimate rehabilitation, of the nation's vast bridge network, based on an exhaustive study led by Rutgers University in New Jersey, involving teams from three continents. Courtesy Rutgers University Research that will look at U.S. system of 600,000 bridges begins with a single span in Wayne, N.J. Courtesy Rutgers University Non-destructive evaluation methods provide information more quickly, at a fraction of the cost of conventional testing metods. Related Links: Rutgers/PB-Led Research Team Will Study Hundreds Of Bridges The U.S. system includes some 600,000 bridges. This number
Poland's decision on June 13 to cancel the contract with Chinese Overseas Engineering Group (COVEC), a subsidiary of the state-owned China Railway Engineering Corp., to build a 50-km (31-mile) stretch of the key east-west A2 Highway has dealt a blow to Chinese ambitions to break into the lucrative European construction market. Web photo Polish government says it will seek to restart work this summer on Chinese-abandoned highway, but finding a contractor to take on the project could be challenging. Related Links: Oman, Egypt Lead Middle Eastern Push To Upgrade Airports Norway Firm Clinches Tanzania Power Contract Hong Kong's Tuen Mun
As Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport's $6-billion expansion program heads for a final landing in 2012, the airport is wrapping up other epic challenges, such resolving disputes with a design-firm joint venture and the airport's major airline tenant. All major construction is just about complete, with some 900 workers on-site, ramped down from a peak of 2,000, says Kevin Fauvell, project construction manager with the $1.19-billion construction manager-at-risk contractor, a joint venture of Holder Construction Co., Manhattan Construction Group, CD Moody and Hunt Construction Group.The original budget for the new Maynard H. Jackson International Terminal was $1.19 billion, with a contingency
Like an aging Hollywood diva attempting to attract new roles, Los Angeles International Airport is getting a $1.5-billion makeover in order to better appeal to airlines and customers. A gleaming 1.3-million-sq-ft addition to the Tom Bradley International Terminal, dubbed Bradley West, headlines the city's largest public-works project. Photo courtesy LAWA SOARING HOPES Airport officials pin the reputation of a revamped LAX on a new, modern terminal building. Related Links: Los Angeles Revamps Terminal to Save International Business “This is an effort not to grow the existing airport but to grow the quality of service,” says Michael Doucette, chief planner with
As mass transit officials, struggling to keep aging systems in usable condition, explored the possibility of private-public partnerships, Republicans unveiled on June 15 a plan to take the Northeast Corridor away from Amtrak and privatize it. Photo by AP Wideworld AMTRAK FACES ATTACK Republican-led proposal would strip Amtrak of Northeast Corridor ownership. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) fleshed out a plan to draw private-sector money to upgrade passenger rail service from Washington, D.C., to Boston to high-speed levels.The plan would remove from Amtrak's control its 363 route miles of the 457-mile-long Northeast Corridor (NEC). The proposal
Recent bid openings for subway projects in New York City and San Francisco revealed a range of prices and teaming partners. In New York City, the Metropolitan Transportation Agency opened bids on June 7 for a contract to furnish and install systems and finishes on the No. 7 subway line extension. A joint venture of Skanska Civil and Railworks was the low bidder at $513.7 million, followed by the joint venture SPP, at $539.8 million; Tutor Perini, at $542.2 million; a team of Judlau and Citnalta, at $563 million; CCA, at $598.5 million; and CHRE Construction LLC, at $758.5 million,
Humanitarian groups, led by Amnesty International, are protesting Ghana’s planned eviction of hundreds of thousands of slum dwellers occupying land along a 24-kilometer section of a planned, nearly $7-billion, 1,224-km railway line. Illustration by ENR The nearly $7-billion Ghana railway project, funded as part of a $10.4-billion, 20-year concessionary loan from China's Export/Import Bank, will include construction from the nation's capital in Accra to the northernmost terminal in Paga. The protests are further delaying the China-backed initiative, initially slated to commence this past April.“We urge the Government of Ghana to suspend the eviction of people from their homes until the
Brazil’s long-delayed $3.21 billion Transnordestina rail project is nearing completion, with operations expected next year as the 1,728-kilometer freight line aims to boost logistics and exports across the country’s northeast region.
A joint venture of two Spanish contractors, Obrascon Huarte Lain S.A. (OHL) and Dimetronic S.A., emerged May 17 as the low bidder for the Marmaray suburban rail upgrade project in Istanbul with a $1.5-billion bid. Related Links: Byzantine Port, Botched Buildings Put A Brake On Bosporus Link Japanese Team Goes Deep To Link Istanbul's Two Parts The project to upgrade the city’s 140-year-old suburban train lines will create an uninterrupted high-capacity commuter rail system of 76.3 kilometers between the suburbs of Gebze on the Asian side and Halkalı on the European side. It will include a line running through an
Through three wars, plans for an underground metro in Iraq’s capital city languished in a “pending” file. Now Baghdad municipally has signed a contract with a French firm and is dusting off decades-old designs for a 40-kilometer system. Map by Walter Konefal Planned Baghdad Metro The government also aspires to develop a separate plan for a 25-km elevated transit project as well.French design firm Systra S.A., Paris, now is mobilizing for 18 months’ work to develop the two-line metro project sufficiently for the city to solicit an engineer-procure-and-construct contract. Under Systra’s agreement, signed May 27, Systra also will advise on
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