The Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) hosted the Russian Minister of Transport, Igor Levitin, and an eight-member delegation at O'Hare International Airport on June 23. Levitin and the delegation met with CDA Commissioner Rosemarie S. Andolino and senior staff members during their visit. Their discussion covered numerous airport management topics, including safety and security, operations, construction, sustainability, financial and legal procedures at O'Hare and Midway International Airports. The group also toured one of O'Hare's terminals, learned about the CDA's Sustainable Airport Manual and participated in discussions about airport construction, terminal recycling, water, power and emissions management. Levitin says he traveled

(Marketwire - June 23) - The Midwest market region of the U.S., consisting of the states of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, has 59 major industrial projects valued at $2.55 billion planned to kick off this July. The data was released by Industrial Info Resources of Sugar Land, Texas. The region narrowly edges out the West Coast region, which has 58 projects valued at $2.46 billion, and the Rocky Mountain region, which has $2.44 billion of July project starts spread over 31 projects. Windfarms and alternative fuels projects feature prominently among the Midwest's top projects.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed legislation June 9 that will bring the two states together to build the Illiana Expressway, connecting I-55 from south of Joliet, Ill., to I-65 near Lowell, Ind. The Memorandum of Understanding calls for the two states to share the funding and responsibility of preliminary engineering, modeling and forecasting, and planning and permitting for the $1 billion project, which is expected to create nearly 14,000 jobs in Illinois. �The first step is having the two states move together to determine the most feasible way to connect the two states with 50

Plans for building the $1.8-billion FutureGen clean-coal power plant and underground carbon-storage site near Mattoon, Ill., remain on hold while the U.S. Dept. of Energy and the FutureGen Industrial Alliance review the agreement covering its construction, financing and operation. The FutureGen Industrial Alliance�s coal-fired, 275-MW plant would capture nearly all the carbon dioxide it creates and store it permanently more than a mile deep in the earth. Related Links: Spotlight on Power Perfect Power System Proves Worth The DOE must approve the agreement before the FutureGen Industrial Alliance can build and operate the coal-fired, 275-MW plant, which would capture nearly

The new Perfect Power smart-grid electrical system that the Illinois Institute of Technology is installing on its Chicago campus could be the blueprint for a new microgrid power-distribution system that would revitalize the aging electrical grid in the U.S. Officials from the Galvin Electricity Initiative, which developed the Perfect Power concept, say the system going in at IIT is the country�s first Perfect Power system and one of just nine �renewable and distributed systems integration� prototypes funded by the U.S. Dept. of Energy. DOE is paying $7 million of the system�s $12-million cost. IIT is paying the other $5 million.

Duke Energy�s $2.88 billion coal degasification power plant under construction on 100 acres in Edwardsport, Ind., is a colossal endeavor with an endless number of firsts. Numerous changes during the detail design phase led to significant increases in material quantities. As many as 460 Bechtel engineers were involved during the peak of design. Spotlight on PowerDuke�s Advanced Coal Plant Reaches $2.88 Billion. Related Links: FutureGen Awaits OK Perfect Power System Proves Worth The unprecedented nature of the project has forced Duke to increase its original cost estimate by 48 percent for the 618-MW Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant. The

Despite a depressed U.S. construction market in 2009, Walsh Construction Co. of Chicago managed to generate $1.3 billion in regional revenue and more than $3.3 billion nationwide. For the second straight year, it repeated as the top contractor in Midwest Construction’s ranking of regional contractors and repeated as the 17th largest U.S. contractor in Engineering News-Record’s rankings. ENR and Midwest Construction are both published by McGraw-Hill. History of Growth and Family Ownership Founded in 1898 in Chicago by Matthew Myles Walsh, an Irish immigrant, Walsh Construction has grown into the Midwest’s largest general contractor. Now headed by the founder’s grandsons—CEO

Sheldon J. �Red� Mandell, Chicago demolition industry veteran and first president of the National Demolition Association, received the association�s Lifetime Achievement Award for the influential role he played in the growth of the association. He currently serves as chairman of the Board of National Wrecking Company, a family-owned business he has managed since 1952. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" HONORS St. Louis Sheet Metal Workers Local 36 apprentice Dustin Walker was awarded top honors as a service apprentice at the Annual International Sheet Metal Competition hosted by the International Training Institute in Las Vegas, Nev. Walker is in the

Cost: $97 million The University of Wisconsin�s Biochemistry II building is an interdisciplinary facility that will replace the 1956, 1937 and part of the 1912 wing of the existing Biochemistry complex. Photo: Courtesy Of Flad Architects Biochemistry II, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. Related Links: Back to Top Project Starts This teaching and research building will bring undergraduates, graduate students and staff together from departments in the college of agricultural and life sciences and the medical school. The new, 250,000-sq-ft facility will include laboratories for 20 research groups, three teaching auditoriums, three smaller classrooms, three biochemistry instructional laboratories, an animal

Cost: $150 million Located at 215 West Washington Street in Chicago, the 50-story building is the first high-rise rental residence to be built in Chicago�s Loop in 15 years. The building features 389 studio/convertible, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartment homes. Photo: Courtesy Of Doka Usa Ltd. 215 West Apartments, Chicago Related Links: Back to Top Project Starts The tower also includes a 12-story parking garage and 14,000 sq ft of retail space at street level. The project was completed three months ahead of schedule due to the use of Doka USA�s unique formwork systems. The project was one of the