SETTING SAIL Immersed tubes will be installed this summer. (Photo by Willam J. Angelo for ENR) With hopes of speeding urban mass transit while revitalizing a critical minority business corridor, officials at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority are well on their way to completing Boston's first bus rapid transit service. The $1.6-billion, 20-year project includes a major street widening, 13 new stations and two separate mile-long tunnels utilizing a number of techniques including the first use of soil freezing combined with the New Austrian Tunneling Method to bore under a structure. Phase One of the three-stage project, a $50-million new
The U.S. construction market is in a slump, which usually is a signal for domestic contractors to take up the slack by looking abroad. But the international market last year provided even worse returns for ENR's Top 400 Contractors than they experienced at home. Many of the same factors that hurt the U.S. market in 2002 simply crossed borders. The Top 400 report 2002 revenue of $19.60 billion from projects outside the U.S., down 10.9% from the $22.03 billion in 2001. This downturn is part of a continuing trend that began in 1999, the high-water mark for the Top 400,
As airlines and airports struggle with persistently low passenger volumes, Congress is moving on legislation that is likely to give a boost, though a small one, to federal airport grants for the next several years. The legislation is still a long way from passage, but when it's final it is likely to include added aid for airport security projects and mechanisms to push big runway projects more quickly through their environmental reviews. At issue is what will succeed AIR-21–the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century. The 2000 statute, named for the former longtime senator
(Photo courtesy of C.G. Schmidt/Steve Chamberlin/Miwaukee Art Museum) Santiago Calatrava, Renzo Piano, Rem Koolhaas, Tadao Ando, Norman Foster, Fumihiko Maki and Jose Rafael Moneo–to name only seven. When it comes to designer labels, made in the U.S.A. is wearing thin and imports are the fashion. CALATRAVA His museum addition (right) is making a big splash in Milwaukee. "It's the pattern now," says Bill Lacy, executive director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize and a professional advisor to owners seeking architects. "If you want the best, you should spread your net as widely as possible," he tells his clients. Owners say nationality
(Photo courtesy of Airis Corp.) In the cavernous space of Worldport, a new United Parcel Service air cargo facility in Louisville, some 122 miles of conveyers whisk packages through at up to 450 ft per minute. Within 15 minutes, a piece of mail is verified, sorted and sent on its way. Until its completion last fall, up to 1,800 construction workers at a time had been hard at work erecting 75 million lb of steel, installing 4,500 miles of fiber- optic cable and erecting the 4-million-sq-ft building. In the four years of construction on the $1-billion project, scores of contracts
Economic signs now are about as dismal as they've been in a decade and 2002 may turn out to be the calm of prosperity for many design firms before they have to weather the storm of market fallout and bad times. While the economy, the Iraq war and general capital spending uncertainty are bad omens for many of the ENR Top 500 Design Firms, the market may actually have hit bottom for others and could actually give way to pent-up demand this year or next. Despite early signs of troubling times, The Top 500 had a pretty good year in
In the past, the international market has been a refuge for U.S. design firms facing tough times at home. But since the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks in 2001, engineers have been seriously re-examining their priorities abroad. Security has now joined payment reliability, currency stability and rule of law as a key issue to be considered. "We've really looked at the international market with more restraint in the past three to five years than we have in the past," says Frank DeMartino, president and COO of Parsons Corp. He says the design firm is taking a cautious approach to
The market for design in the U.S. and around the world is as strong as it has ever been and large design firms are reaping the bounty. But with the strong market come challenges that are promising to bring significant changes to the industry as firms struggle to cope with the climbing volume of work, staffing issues, new client demands and a shift toward a more sustainable building model. The scope of the current construction boom can be measured by the huge surge in revenue from design. The ENR Top 500 Design Firms as a group generated $69.61 billion in
GRANDSTANDING Soldier Field job relied on 3-D model to fit new structure into old. (Image courtesy of Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers) Shoehorning a football field and seating bowl, complete with suites, into the horseshoe-shaped perimeter bay of a narrow venue built 80 years ago for track and field was enough to drive many toward distraction. Then, pile on the charge to gut and reconstruct the landmark sports facility in four to six months less than is comfortable and customary for National Football League stadiums. And top that with an unprecedented foray, at least on this scale in the U.S., into the largely
Kathi Littmann looked in her appointment book in July, 1999, and saw an unusual sight—empty space. Just two years earlier, she had maneuvered herself into an enviable position as real estate consultant for a new movie production studio for director Steven Spielberg.
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