Courtesy FRA Rae says that 72 of 77 rail projects under ARRA are now in some phase of development. Related Links: DOT Drives To Commit Rail Aid The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided $8 billion for high-speed passenger rail and regular appropriations provided about $2 billion more. It’s been up to the Federal Railroad Administration to set up the program, evaluate a flood of applications for the money and award grants. But before design and construction work can get going, FRA must negotiate and sign agreements with states and freight railroads, on whose lines many of the proposed
Ken Portnoy has joined Balfour Beatty Construction, Dallas, as vice president of public-private partnerships. He will coordinate the firm's U.S. activity using alternative financing approaches. Portnoy was president of the public facilities division of Garfield Traub Development LLC, Dallas.WILSONFluor Corp., Irving, Texas, has made a top executive change at Savannah River Nuclear Solutions LLC, the company-led partnership that manages and operates the U.S. Energy Dept.'s Savannah River site complex in Aiken, S.C. Dwayne Wilson has been named president and CEO, replacing Garry W. Flowers, who will be the corporate senior vice president for environment, safety and health, the company said.
Paul Eng-Wong has been named a principal of Watertown, Mass.-based engineer Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. following the firm's Sept. 6 acquisition of Eng-Wong, Taub & Associates, a New York City transportation planner of which he is president and co-founder. Martin Taub, the acquired firm's other co-founder and executive vice president, also joins VHB as a principal. Eng-Wong, Taub & Associates has 40 employees.Johnson, Miraman & Thompson Inc., a Sparks, Md., engineer-architect, has named Sharon J. Bland as vice president. She was president, CEO and founder of Clear Solution Management Group, a Washington, D.C., management consultant, and formerly vice president of
Thousands of Imad Naffa's digital devotees are mourning the Sept. 6 loss of the industry social-networking pioneer whose Twitter posts seemed omnipresent. Naffa, a civil engineer, building-code software developer and entrepreneur, had a fatal heart attack in Fresno, Calif., at age 49, according to a post by Loretta Naffa, his wife and the office manager of his firm, Naffa International.Dubbed the “Twitter King” by BusinessNewsDaily.com, an online publication for startups, Naffa claimed more than 56,000 followers. He was second among construction tweeters, says Wefollow.com, a website that ranks registered Twitter users based on the number of followers and “influence.” Matt
Photo courtesy of MassDOT 'We are looking forward to working with the industry to improve project-delivery approvals,' says Richard Davey, Secretary, Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation Richard Davey is the new Secretary of the Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation. Only 38, he aims to use social media to make the agency more transparent. As general manager of the state Bay Transportation Authority for three years, he rode with T-line riders, hosted customer lunches and became a local celebrity. Davey's recent interview with ENR has been condensed and edited.ENR: What are the state's top-priority projects for the next few years? Davey: We are
In a management shake-up, Leighton Holdings Ltd., the St. Leonard's, Australia-based contractor, has named Harnish Tyrwhitt to be CEO. A 26-year company veteran, he replaces David Stewart, who resigned on Aug. 25 after eight months in the position. He had succeeded Wal King, who served 23 years as CEO. Since 2007, Tyrwhitt had been managing director of Leighton Asia Ltd., based in Hong Kong, and a director of Leighton Contractors (Asia) Ltd. The company claims Leighton Asia “is now considered one of the top-tier contractors” in Hong Kong. Earlier this year, Tyrwhitt also took over management of Leighton's offshore and
Never mind her asthma, Carla Bonacci recalls thinking on Sept. 11, 2001, after her PATH train from New Jersey got diverted from her World Trade Center stop to a station about a mile north.The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey manager, seeing smoke billowing from the 110-story twin towers of the WTC, raced toward the infernos. She was hell-bent on getting to her team, housed on two floors high in the north tower. Just before she made her destination, the south tower collapsed. To her, it sounded like a bomb and brought back vivid memories of the first
Bottom Photo by Nadine M. Post for ENR DETERMINED On 9/11, Lyons, wearing his firefighter-brothers spare gear, went looking for him at Ground Zero. Lyons has worked there since. Related Links: Witnesses to 9/11, Devoted to Rebuilding World Trade Center At New York's New World Trade Center, Uncommon Cooperation Brian Lyons, 51, has worked on 10 projects at Ground Zero. The man is on a personal crusade to rebuild the World Trade Center “bigger and better than before.” His mission was born on 9/11, when he made his way to Ground Zero to look for his 32-year-old brother—a firefighter with
Photo courtesy of TEDx Engineer Imad Naffa, at industry conference in May, was a strong advocate of social networking. Related Links: TEDx Dead Sea Imad Naffa Video Imad Naffa, a civil engineer and building code software developer who propelled his "passion for people" to become a global social media networking phenomenon, died suddenly on Sept. 6 in Fresno, Calif. He was 49 and suffered a fatal heart attack, according to a Twitter post by Loretta Naffa, his wife and office manager.The death of Naffa, a self-proclaimed "Twitterologist," generated a buzz among his followers, who numbered more than 56,000, making him
James W. Poirot, who chaired Denver engineering and construction giant CH2M Hill Cos. Ltd. for a decade and spearheaded an epic, although controversial, project to boost construction quality industry-wide, died Aug. 4 of congestive heart failure. He was 79.While chairman of CH2M Hill in the late 1980s, the longtime quality control advocate also pushed to develop a professional practice quality manual through his involvement in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The effort had its roots in the collapse of a hotel walkway in Kansas City in 1981. PoirotThe Poirot-led project involved the coordination of 4,000 contributors and 40
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