The contractor for the $453-million steel-superstructure portion of the widening of the Huey P. Long Bridge in New Orleans is working out the last details of an erection sequence that is faster, safer and interferes less with motor and marine traffic than the stick-build sequence the owner originally proposed. Photo: HNTB Piers have been enlarged and new bracing added to prepare for widened spans. Photo: Angelle Bergeron / ENR Related Links: Span Readied To Receive Steel: A Bridge Grows in New Orelans MTI, a joint venture of Massman Construction Co., Kansas City; Traylor Bros. Inc., Evansville, Ind.; and IHI Inc.,

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has approved a bill that would extend the federal-aid highway program for 18 months, authorizing $61.5 billion over that period. The panel cleared the measure on July 15 by an 18-1 vote. Only Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) voted against it. Photo: Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Majority Boxer kept bill "clean" of policy-related provisions The extension would begin on Sept. 30, when the current multi-year surface transportation bill--the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU)--will lapse. It would keep authorizations at the fiscal 2009 levels, providing $41

Engineers and up to 2,000 workers in London have been stitching together and modernizing sections of three 19th-century urban railroads—two defunct and one live—to close a gap of under 3 km in the northeast corner of the city’s emerging orbital route. Slide Show Photo: Peter Reina / ENR A refurbished arch viaduct. Related Links: New Urban Rail Link: Threading an Historic Cityscape Over $1 billion is the expected end cost for the three-year project extending and improving this short stretch of Victorian-era infrastructure in the crowded metropolis. “It is a very complex project because here you are dealing with old

A new team is taking over at the Federal Highway Administration, as debate heats up about the Highway Trust Fund’s problems and legislation to reauthorize surface transportation programs. The Senate on July 10 confirmed former Arizona Dept. of Transportation Director Victor M. Mendez as FHWA administrator. Mendez served as ADOT’s director from 2001 until February 2009.

A construction team led by Spanish contractor Sacyr Vallehermoso SA has won the mammoth Panama Canal expansion’s largest contract to date: the design-build job to build a third set of locks on the waterway’s Atlantic and Pacific openings. The locks contract is the heart of the $5.2-billion effort begun in September 2007 to expand the historic waterway. The winning team, which includes two U.S. engineering firms, proposes to construct the locks for $3.12 billion. The job had been estimated by owner Panama Canal Authority (ACP) to cost $3.48 billion, the quasi-government agency revealed on July 8. Photo: C.J. Schexnayder/ENR Firms

As its investigation continues into the deadly June 22 crash of two Metrorail cars in suburban Maryland near Washington, D.C., the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is urging the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to incorporate enhanced safety redundancy into its train control system as quickly as possible. The agency also called on the Federal Transit Administration to advise other transit agencies using similar automated controls to evaluate their systems for adequate safety redundancy. Metrorail's control system, which automatically regulates train speed and location, has come under scrutiny after a train traveling at high speed rear-ended a stopped train,

Next year’s World Cup soccer competition is providing powerful motivation on a major transportation project. Gautrain is an 80-kilometer rail line linking Johannesburg with Pretoria, with a spur leading to OR Tambo International Airport, which serves both cities. The route will tunnel underground for 15 km, cross 55 bridges and travel on viaducts for 10.5 km. It involves 6.7 million cubic meters of earthmoving, with a peak work force of 6,000. Phase one, the 20-km airport connector, is currently on target for its May 2010 deadline. It is structured as a public- private partnership, awarded to the Bombela Consortium, made

The Senate has approved former Arizona Dept. of Transportation Director Victor M. Mendez as the new head of the Federal Highway Administration. Mendez, who was confirmed as FHWA Administrator on July 10, joined Arizona DOT (ADOT) in 1985 as a transportation engineer and in 2001 was named ADOT director. Photo: Arizona DOT Mendez led Arizona DOT from 2001 until February 2009 Related Links: Former Arizona DOT Chief Picked to Head FHWA He held the top ADOT post until February, when he and other state agency heads left when Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer [R] became governor. Mendez also played

Faster, stronger and greener elements need to be part of bridge construction in the U.S., accomplished through fast-track project-delivery methods, Accelerated Bridge Construction techniques or alternative materials, according to a variety of industry officials. Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) could contribute to all those themes, said speakers at the International Bridge Conference held in Pittsburgh on June 14-17. “The ABC mantra is ‘Get in, get out and stay out,’” noted David White, marketing manager with Sika Corp., Lyndhurst, N.J., a manufacturer of FRP components. “FRPs will fit all of that, especially the ‘stay out.’” But the higher initial cost of installing composite

A small precast-concrete bridge in New Jersey is being replaced with a hybrid-composite beam structure that could have a service life of 100 years. This is the third project using the technology, which combines a glass-fiber reinforced shell, self-consolidating concrete for compression reinforcement and high-strength continuous steel fibers for tension reinforcement. Photo: HC Bridge Co., LLC Hybrid-composite beam in New Jersey was installed with an excavator. HC Bridge Co. LLC, Chicago, is supplying beams for the $1.34-million state Rte. 23 Peckman’s Brook Bridge in Cedar Grove, N.J. The 50-year-old four- lane, 66-ft-wide, 30-ft-long bridge is considered structurally deficient and is