The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said Wednesday that while the wind power industry is gaining momentum in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Ohio, expiration of a key tax credit could curtail future projects and trigger massive lay offs in the Midwest and elsewhere. In its Annual Market Report, released earlier this week, AWEA indicated the Midwest continues to generate and consume greater amounts of wind power, with Illinois ranked fifth among states involved in construction of wind-related projects and Iowa ranked second among states that consume wind power, as a percentage of their portfolios.The report also indicates that the number
Despite efforts by U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) to garner support for construction of a new airport in south suburban Chicago, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has indicated construction of a fourth runway at Chicago's O'Hare Airport would eliminate need for a third regional airport. “I understand what he has to do as a congressman, but as a mayor, I have my interests representing the city and that means expanding O'Hare and its capacity, because if it runs on rails, if it runs on roads and if it runs on runways, it's coming through Chicago,” Emanuel said Tuesday, while attending
Illinois businesses are petitioning state lawmakers to strike down legislation that would impose $12 billion in consumer subsidies to support a planned coal gasification plant they say isn't needed and would cost electricity customers far more than originally promised. Supporters of the project, which would be sited in Taylorville, about 20 miles southeast of Springfield, contend the plant could serve as a model for future clean-coal initiatives while creating 2,400 construction jobs and 155 permanent jobs. They also believe the $3.6-billion plant, to be developed by Omaha, Neb.-based Tenaska, would jump start the state's struggling coal industry.However, eight commercial interests,
Top Starts In The midwest Rank Project Location Project Cost Start Date/ End Date Owner Prime contractor1U.S. 31 Major Moves Upgrade Hamilton County, Ind.$600 millionApril 2011 2017Indiana Dept. of Transportation Multiple Contractors2Cleveland Medical Mart and Convention Center Cleveland, Ohio$465 millionJan. 2011 Aug. 2013Cuyahoga Country Turner Construction3Hollywood Casino Columbus, Ohio$400 millionApril 2011 Nov. 2012Penn National Gaming Inc.Smoot Construction Co.3Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati, Ohio$400 millionFeb. 2011 Feb. 2013Rock Ohio Caesars Messer Construction Co.5Horseshoe Casino Cleveland, Ohio$350 millionFeb. 2011 March 2012Rock Ohio Caesars Whiting-Turner Construction Co.6Wacker Drive—Phase Il Chicago, Ill.$300 millionJan. 2011 Dec. 2012Chicago Dept. of Transportation Alfred Benesch & Co.7Domtar Inc. Pulp and
While debate rages over whether the Keystone XL pipeline should be built for exporting Canadian oil sands to the U.S., the matter is a moot point in Whiting, Ind. There, more than 8,000 tradesmen are at work on the multibillion-dollar modernization of a BP refinery, an undertaking that will allow BP to process more heavy Canadian crude delivered by pipeline to the Midwest. Situated on a 1,400-acre site touching three cities, the 121-year-old refinery is the sixth-largest facility of its kind in U.S. and the third in the Midwest to recently be upgraded or to introduce equipment for the purpose
BoschertMike Boschert has been named senior project manager with St. Louis-based contractor, design-build and construction management firm Paric. Boschert joined the firm in 2007 as an engineer and previously was promoted to project engineer. He earned a bachelor's degree in construction management at Kansas State University. Walter Rymsza has joined Chicago-based engineer Alfred Benesch & Co. as senior project manager/director of railroad structures. A structural engineer with more than 30 years of experience, Rymsza specializes in the design of railroad bridges, foundations and retaining walls as well as soil mechanics and the structural rating of railroad bridges. DarmodyJoseph D. Darmody has
It was during a design charette in 2005 that project executives with Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and KJWW Engineering Consultants, designers of the University of Illinois Business Instructional Building, first broached the subject of constructing the facility in accordance with LEED standards.
Although some key market indicators, including a recent survey of backlogs by the Associated Builders and Contractors Inc., show construction activity in the Midwest trailing activity in the South and Northeast, the region led in February's Architectural Billings Index (ABI), according to the Washington D.C.-based American Institute of Architects.The index, which provides a glimpse of future nonresidential construction spending activity, remained in positive territory in February for the fourth month in a row, with a score of 51.0, up from 50.9 in January. By comparison, the Midwest regional average score was 56.0, followed by the South with 51.3, the
Now that engineers have determined that a ruptured diaphragm plate led to the failure of a pair of cables on a 2,200-ft cable-stayed suspension bridge in Minneapolis, they are turning their attention to potential causes of the rupture, as well as fractures uncovered on two additional plates in late February. Photo Courtesy of the Minneapolis Department of Public Works The Martin Olav Sabo Bridge, a on a 2,200-ft cable-stayed structure bridge in Minneapolis, remains closed as investigators attempt to determine why a diaphragm plate supporting one its cables ruptured. Meantime, city officials say they are satisfied with results of an
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