Seven owners of contaminated sites in California, including the Sierra Nevada municipality of Nevada City, will use grants from an $80 million annual Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields and Land Revitalization program to clean up dangerous sites. Friends of Deer Creek, an environmental nonprofit, will subcontract with Nevada City to administrate three $200,000 grants to clean up heavy metals from the tailings of two abandoned mines in recreation areas. A four-year environmental study of the 40-acre gold mining area funded by a Community Assessment Grant detected lead level spikes as high as 1,700 ppm in popular hiking areas. The EPA limit
The U.S. Department of Transportation�s Federal Aviation Administration recently marked the completion of $14.5 million in runway projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that will ensure continued safety for flights at San Francisco International Airport. �The Recovery Act made it possible for this important safety work to happen ahead of schedule,� says U.S Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. �These projects kept workers in good-paying jobs, and these safety improvements will benefit the airport and passengers for years to come.� FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt marked the completion of the work at an event last month at San
The growth of the green building market will drive adoption of building information modeling software, according to a new SmartMarket Report, �Green BIM: How Building Information Modeling is Contributing to Green Design and Construction,� released last week by McGraw-Hill Construction. Produced in collaboration with the U.S. Green Building Council, the Mechanical Contractors Association of America, Autodesk and 13 other prominent industry organizations, the report provides new insights on the convergence of two important construction industry trends: green building and BIM, known simply as �Green BIM.� �Green building is already transforming design and construction in the U.S., and BIM has the
Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest awarded Clark/McCarthy of Costa Mesa a design-build $394-million Recovery Act funded contract for a new hospital at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. Navy Medicine West is the sponsor for the hospital representing the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. NAVFAC Southwest will manage the largest American Recovery and Reinvestment Act project of 2009 to be awarded in the Department of Navy. �The naval hospital replacement project at Camp Pendleton is one of the largest Recovery Act projects within the Department of Defense and plays a critical role for the support and care for the
The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded LEED gold certification of the new three-story, 50,000-sq-ft Allied Health Education and Training Facility at San Diego Mesa College. McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. served as the construction manager on behalf of the San Diego Community College District. Architects | Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker was the project architect. Completed in August 2009, the new $23-million Allied Health Education and Training Facility is the district�s sixth facility to be LEED certified and the fourth to achieve LEED gold status. Construction was funded by the $1.555 billion Propositions S and N construction bond program, which is
Herb Nadel, president and founder of Los Angeles-based Nadel Architects Inc., has put together a new ownership group to help drive his company forward into �a new era.� Current Nadel executives, from left, Patrick Winters, Joan Frei, and Greg Palaski join founder Herb Nadel of Nadel Architects (center) Joining the new ownership team are firm executives Joan Frei, Patrick Winters and Greg Palaski. Nadel will remain the company�s president. Frei joins Nadel�s new ownership team straight from her role as the company�s senior vice president of business development. She joined Nadel in 1999 as the director of business development for
The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority has opened bids for the Foothill Extension Phase 2A light rail alignment work. Photo: Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority Bids Open for Metro Gold Line Foothill Phase 2A Project The $450-million design-build-finance project will involve final design, construction and financing of 11.5-mi of track, utilities, crossings and systems; six stations and multiple bridges; and a 25+-acre light rail maintenance facility. Phase 2A will extend the Metro Gold Line light rail line from its current terminus in East Pasadena, adding stations in Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale and Azusa. The Construction Authority
Construction industry organizations applauded President Barack Obama�s proposed $50-billion, six-year surface transportation plan, which was laid out this week. �The president clearly appreciates that the infrastructure-focused portions of the stimulus were effective in boosting employment and helping rebuild America�s aging infrastructure,� says Stephen E. Sandherr, CEO of the Associated General Contractors of America. �And while the most effective sequel to the stimulus is passing a fully-funded, six-year surface transportation bill, countless thousands of construction workers will have a better chance of retaining their jobs thanks to this proposal than they otherwise would once the stimulus runs its course.� Sandherr says
At a workshop in El Monte last week, the California Air Resources Board says it will abandon its original estimates of off-road diesel emissions, conceding that its off-road rule is not needed to meet ambitious goals for the off-road equipment in the construction and certain other industries. According to new estimates that the agency staff developed over the summer, the CARB says off-road fleets of diesel equipment will exceed the state�s emission goals for many years to come, based on the current and near future state of the construction economy. Mike Kennedy, general counsel for the Associated General Contractors of
The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners unanimously approved the Environmental Impact Report for the project to replace the aging, 42-year-old Gerald Desmond Bridge at the Port of Long Beach with a new, nearly $1 billion span. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The Port of Long Beach, in partnership with Caltrans, will oversee the project to design and build a higher, wider bridge parallel to and just north of the existing Gerald Desmond Bridge. Once the new bridge is completed and open, the old structure will be taken down. The project will generate an average of 4,000 jobs per
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