When an agency has completed a mile-long pair of 22-ft-dia tunnels deep under a river and 140 ft beneath New York City, one might think that would be enough for one project. But that’s just the beginning for the $7.2-billion East Side Access project. While 800,000 cu yd of excavation for station caverns continues just feet from one of the world’s busiest rail terminals, contractors are gearing up for another tough tunneling task on the other side of the East River in Queens—in one of the world’s busiest rail interlocking yards. The first segments, as heavy as 270,000 lb, of
As contractors start mobilizing to drive Crossrail’s twin tunnels, work on the railroad’s $795-million station at the Canary Wharf commercial district in east London is powering ahead. The six-floor-deep station is the largest of Crossrail’s nine. Image: Courtesy of Crossrail Crossrail’s Canary Wharf Station is being constructed along the River Thames. Related Links: First Bids Keep Crossrail Budget on Track Top-down construction is forming the station along the River Thames. The structure will extend 25 meters below the water level. Construction within a watertight cofferdam is scheduled to greet tunnel-boring machines in summer 2012. Canary Wharf Group plc., the project
With their bids coming in below original estimates, European and Irish contractors grabbed the lion’s share of nearly $2 billion in tunneling contracts to be let so far on London’s $23-billion Crossrail project. The four contracts are the first of nearly 30 that Crossrail officials expect to award in the next 11 months. + Image Map: Courtesy Crossrail Ltd. Crossrail Ltd. plans to award 30 contracts in the next year to construct the $23-billion London rail project. Related Links: At Canary Wharf, Key Rail Station Takes Shape Bids below the original estimates were a positive development for project managers, who
India’s prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has reshuffled his Cabinet, and among the changes announced on Jan. 19 was the appointment of C.P. Joshi to be Minister for Road Transport and Highways. Joshi, who led the Rural Development Ministry, replaces Kamal Nath, who shifts to become head of the Urban Development Ministry. As Joshi begins his new job, he aims to make ministry operations transparent and push for new technology to monitor road projects in real time. The industry continues to expect that highway projects will be accelerated, although Joshi has declined to provide specific goals. In May 2009, then-minister Nath
Transport Scotland expects to have bids for the estimated $2-billion cable-stayed bridge over the Firth of Forth waterway in hand by the end of January. The agency aims to award by April the 66-month, lump-sum design-build contract for the Forth Replacement Waterway Project. Photo: Transport Scotland The new Forth Replacement Waterway Project, when complete in 2016, will be the third major crossing over the Firth of Forth, near Edinburgh. Shown: The Forth Road Bridge, completed in the mid-1960s. Two teams of contractors were invited to bid for the fixed-price contract on Dec. 17, say Transport Scotland officials. Nearly 40 companies
A consortium led by Beijing-based China Communications Construction Co. has won the contract to design and build the world’s longest sunken-tube tunnel for road traffic between Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao. The project has a tight time frame, with design expected to be completed by June 2012 and construction slated to be finished by the end of 2016. Photo: Courtesy Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Authority At 4.2 miles, a sunken-tube tunnel in Hong Kong will be the world’s longest. The winning project team includes the local offices of AECOM Asia Co. Ltd., Shanghai Urban Construction (Group) Co., China Highway Planning and
Photo: Nick Merrick/Hedrich Blessing The latest addition to the Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) opened on Jan. 24 sporting a unique look that uses laminated Douglas-fir trusses. The project’s designer, Denver-based Fentress Architects, claims RDU is the first major airport in the world to use a “lenticular wood-truss structure” to support a roof. In all, 80 trusses span the entire length of the terminal and concourse at 30 ft intervals. The trusses are 90 ft long and weigh 34 tons each. The latest phase of the terminal’s construction adds 920,000 sq ft to the 550,000 sq ft that opened in 2008,
Union Pacific Railroad, the largest rail network in the U.S., is expected to break ground later this year on a new transportation hub that will expand its existing operations in the Southwest. The $400-million project will be constructed in Santa Teresa, N.M., not far from the Omaha-based rail company’s existing El Paso, Texas, facility. Originally proposed in 2006, the project has been on hold in part because the railroad was waiting for the New Mexico Legislature to pass a locomotive fuel tax exemption. At a press conference in Santa Teresa on Jan. 8, newly elected Gov. Susana Martinez (R) said
The 112th Congress has not begun well at all for highway construction advocates. Infographic By Walter Konefal New House rule would open the door for highway and transit cuts below the amounts SAFETEA-LU authorized. On Jan. 5, the first day the new Congress was in session, the House, now under Republican control, approved a procedural rule that breaches a 13-year-old legislative “firewall” and lets House appropriators cut highway and transit spending below sums authorized in 2005’s Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users. “We are very distressed,” says Pam Whitted, vice president for government affairs for
Pittsburgh’s $528-million North Shore Connector project is now nearing completion on schedule, despite a month-long jam of a tunnel-boring machine in 2008. The Port Authority of Allegheny County says there are no claims or liquidated damages. Photo: Courtesy of Port Authority of Allegheny County New expanded light-rail station features preserved mural. The 1.2-mile extension of the city’s 25-mile light-rail system extends from downtown beneath the Allegheny River to the city’s North Side. The work involved three major components: construction of the twin-bore tunnels, reconfiguration of the existing Gateway Station and a new North Side station. In April 2008, the 500-ton
RSS
