Aldridge Electric Inc. recently completed work on the third phase of the Illinois Institute of Technology’s (IIT) Perfect Power pilot project in Chicago, one of only nine Smart Grid projects selected last summer to receive Department of Energy stimulus funding. Related Links: I-35W Bridge Receives PCA Design Excellence Award EPA Adds Illinois Sites to Superfund Priorities List Once complete, the pioneer project guarantees continuous service or “perfect power” throughout the campus by creating redundancy and an intelligent electricity distribution system that interfaces with a campus-wide energy system controller. The Aldridge Electric crew worked weekends and off-campus hours to safely complete

Construction has surpassed the halfway point on the $35 million Central DuPage Hospital (CDH) comprehensive outpatient cancer treatment and imaging center in Warrenville, Ill., which was master planned and designed by RTKL Associates Inc. Related Links: Aqua Lands International Design Award Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute Announces 2010 Design Award Winners HOK-Designed Terminal at Indianapolis International Earns Recognition The location is 5 mi south of the hospital’s main campus in Winfield, where CDH is building a 276,000-sq-ft bed pavilion, also designed by RTKL. “Our goal with this project is to showcase CDH and its cancer program by creating a facility with

Magellan Development Group recently broke ground on a 105,000-sq-ft retail center at the southwest corner of the 28-acre Lakeshore East mixed-use development rising just northeast of Millennium Park near the confluence of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan.

Featured Product   05/01/2010 CS Unitec The CS Unitec Model 7 is a Pneumatic-powered Air Mixer and is intended for mixing paint, glue, epoxy, mortar, concrete, refractory cement and other materials in hazardous environments. The mixer is ATEX-approved for use in EX zones with hazardous atmospheres, and is safe to be used around water. The mixer’s 1.5 hp motor has two speed settings of 0-190 rpm and 0-350 rpm, and has the capacity to mix batches of material up to 110 lb. The mixer uses 49 cfm of air at 90 psi and weighs only 15 lb. Mixing paddles are available

Federal stimulus money will be the financial engine driving about $2.6 billion of high-speed rail work in the Upper Midwest during 2010. About $2.6 billion in federal stimulus money will be provided to the Upper Midwest for high-speed rail work. The Chicago-St. Louis line is scheduled to receive $1.1 billion, the most of any Midwest route. The region’s key routes include Chicago-St. Louis-Kansas City; Chicago-Detroit; Chicago-Milwaukee-Madison (and in the future Minneapolis-St. Paul); and Cleveland-Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati. Related Links: In High Gear Second Take The federal government announced in late January that it would award $8 billion nationwide this year to projects that

In late April, southern Missouri�s 440-megawatt Taum Sauk hydroelectric plant began generating power for the first time since December 2005, when an old dam gave way and more than a billion gallons of water rushed down the side of Proffitt Mountain through the popular Johnson�s Shut-Ins State Park below. Photo courtesy of AmerenUE Power utility AmerenUE awarded a joint venture Ozark Constructors LLC the contract to rebuild the pumped-storage reservoir using roller-compacted concrete. Power utility AmerenUE awarded a joint venture named Ozark Constructors LLC the contract to rebuild the pumped-storage reservoir�this time using roller-compacted concrete (RCC), which has become an

Seven Chicago-region transportation agencies convened April 22 for a first-of-its-kind Earth Day XL Transportation Summit to improve coordination among the region�s transportation leaders. At the downtown Chicago summit, chairs of Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Chicago Transit Authority, Illinois Tollway, Metra, Pace, RTA and Illinois Department of Transportation signed the first-ever Earth Day XL Accord. This set of guiding principles for the region�s transportation and transit agencies includes: committing to work toward a shared transportation vision for the region; supporting multi-agency information sharing and coordination; examining programs and proposals to maximize efficiency, reducing costs; and improving service; and reporting publicly

The new 150-kilowatt array of solar panels to be installed atop Torresen Marine�s facility in Muskegon, Mich., starting the last week of April will be the highest-output solar system installed to date in Michigan. Chart House Energy, Chicago, is the project’s general contractor. Inovateus Solar of South Bend, Ind., is supplying the solar panels, which are made by Scheuten Solar USA, whose parent company is headquartered in the Netherlands. This is the first installation of Scheuten solar panels in the U.S. The array of 750 panels, each about 2.5 ft wide by 4 ft tall and weighing about 30 lb,

(Video of the groundbreaking will soon be posted on www.midwest.construction.com) A host of dignitaries, including U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, were on hand at St. Louis� Eades Street Bridge April 19 for the symbolic groundbreaking of the new $667 million Mississippi River Bridge. Photo: Sam Barnes U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood addresses a large gathering at the groundbreaking for the new Mississippi River Bridge in St. Louis. Also pictured is Missouri Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn, far left. Construction of the bridge, about 1 mi north of the groundbreaking site, is currently suspended due to high water

Mayor Greg Ballard signed a memorandum of understanding in March to transfer the city's utilities to Citizens Energy Group, which operates a natural gas distribution company and a district steam heating and chilled water provider in Indianapolis. Ballard wants to use the $425 million the city would get from the transfer for infrastructure construction. Once the proposal gets all the necessary approvals, the city would receive $262.6 million payment from Citizens in two installments, plus up to an additional $50 million from the wastewater general fund that will remain with the city after the transfer. "It will allow us to