U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on April 4 called on states, regulators and utilities to replace or repair aging oil and gas pipelines to avoid catastrophic spills and explosions. LaHood wants the DOT and its regulatory body, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, to increase the maximum civil penalties for pipeline violations to $250,000 per day from $100,000 and, for a series of violations, a onetime $2.5 million fine instead of $1 million. LaHood also is asking Congress to prepare legislation to help close regulatory loopholes, strengthen risk-management requirements, add more inspectors and improve data reporting to help identify
Two months after a 110-lb light fixture fell onto a roadway along Boston’s Big Dig highway project, Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation inspectors have found some corrosion in the 23,000 lighting fixtures that line the Central Artery tunnel. In the wake of the resignation of a highway administrator following a delay in notifying the public about the fixture, the agency’s operational procedures are under scrutiny. “I have acknowledged our failure to alert the public in a timely manner and the lapse in our internal communications, which we are currently working to address,” state transportation Secretary Jeffrey Mullan says. “We are continuing
Funds originally planned for a multi-billion rail tunnel under the Hudson River instead will go to New Jersey road rehabilitation projects, as proposed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R). CHRISTIE At a Board of Commissioners meeting on March 29, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey authorized $1.8 billion to fund New Jersey road and bridge projects, none of which are owned or operated by the port authority. The money had been slated as part of the agency’s contribution to the Hudson River tunnel, which Christie cancelled last October. Construction began on the Access to the Region’s
While the replacement of Seattle’s aging Alaskan Way Viaduct plods toward a definite construction start date, long-needed improvements are well on the road to completion on another of the city’s critical elevated structures. Photo: SDOT Spokane Street Viaduct gets a makeover in anticipation of bigger Alaskan Way Viaduct work. PCL Construction Services Inc., Seattle, has completed 257 drilled shafts for columns that will support the widening of the 3,000-ft-long Spokane Street Viaduct. One of Seattle’s five busiest roads, the viaduct carries up to 70,000 vehicles a day between Interstate 5 and the West Seattle Bridge and serves as a primary
A 354-ft-long, two-span steel bridge was lifted, rolled and set into construction history on March 26. With more than 1,000 spectators on hand, the nearly 4-million-lb structure traveled about 500 ft across Interstate 15 in Utah on a Self-Propelled Modular Transporter (SPMT), a vehicle-pulled platform supported by remote-controlled wheels and hydraulics. Eight hours later, the longest-ever SPMT-assisted bridge move in the Western Hemisphere was complete and ready for vehicular traffic. Thirteen states have used SPMTs to roll pre-built bridge structures into place quickly, but the Utah Dept. of Transportation is the established leader. The March 26 move of the Sam
The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has received almost $10 billion in applications for the $2.4 billion in federal high-speed rail funds that Florida rejected. Related Links: Amtrak Gateway Project News Release DOT Secretary Ray LaHood said on April 6 that 24 states, the District of Columbia and Amtrak submitted more than 90 applications for the turned-back rail money. The deadline for submitting requests was April 4. DOT now will begin to review the proposals. The department said that it had not yet determined when it will announce the winning applications. The funds became available when Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R)
Two months after a 110-lb light fixture fell onto a roadway along Boston’s Big Dig highway project, Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation inspectors have found some corrosion in the 23,000 lighting fixtures that line the Central Artery tunnel. In the wake of the resignation of a highway administrator following a delay in notifying the public about the fixture, the agency’s operational procedures are under scrutiny “I have acknowledged our failure to alert the public in a timely manner and the lapse in our internal communications, which we are currently working to address,” state transportation Secretary Jeffrey Mullan says. “We are continuing
The proposed $6-billion, DesertXpress high-speed passenger train project recently cleared its first major hurdle with the March 24 release of its final environmental impact statement. Circle Point, San Francisco, prepared the report on behalf of the Federal Railroad Administration. A record of decision is expected this spring. Photo: US DOT Fares would be $50 to ride the steel-wheel trains DesertXpress will follow the Interstate 15 alignment between Victorville, Calif. and Las Vegas, using existing right-of-way either along the median or roadside, and will build two passenger stations, a maintenance-storage-operation facility and three electrical substations. The project’s overhead catenary electric powered
The Quindao Haiwan Bridge, an unusual branching structure crossing Jiaozhou Bay, was completed in January. It spans the mouth of the bay but branches off approximately 20 kilometers to the north to connect with Qingdao Liuting International Airport. When the three legs of the bridge converge, the exit ramps lead to overpasses typical of highway interchanges, except this interchange is located in the middle of Jiaozhou Bay. The contractor, Shandong High Speed Group Co. Ltd., claims Quindao Haiwan is the first bridge with an interchange over water. Although its total length of 41.6 km exceeds Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain Bridge by
Breaking ground on Feb. 28 in a ceremony attended by Turkey Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, a 5.4-kilometer twin-deck tunnel crossing beneath the Bosphorus’ seabed will join the European and Asian sides of Istanbul at a cost of $1.4 billion. Istanbul is the largest metropolitan city in Europe and third-largest city in the world, with a population of 13.2 million. The Istanbul Strait Road Tube Crossing, or the Eurasia Tunnel, will be designed, built, financed and operated by Avrasya Tüneli Isletme Insaat ve Yatirim Anonim Sirketi (ATAS), a partnership of Yap? Merkezi from Turkey and SK E&C, Kukdong, Samwhan Corp. and
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