In August 2007, the safety of bridges on the U.S. highway system came into the spotlight following the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As a result of that accident, Colorado took a closer look at its bridges and how to accelerate replacement of poor bridges across the state. Six years later, the Colorado Dept. of Transportation rates 95% of the state’s bridges in “good” or fair condition. CDOT’s rapid progress on repairing and replacing the state’s deficient bridges is due to the FASTER (Funding Advancement for Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery) legislation passed in March 2009.
New construction starts in July decreased 2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $479.1 billion, according to McGraw Hill Construction, a division of McGraw Hill Financial. The nonbuilding construction sector, comprised of public works and electric utilities, pulled back in July after being lifted in June by several very large projects. At the same time, nonresidential building strengthened in July, regaining some of the upward momentum that began to take hold in April and May, while residential building in July showed further growth.For the first seven months of 2013, total construction starts on an unadjusted basis were reported at
Related Links: Practical Uses of Expert Witnesses in Construction Defects Cases Insurance Exclusions May Surprise Contractors The problem of meritless lawsuits against design professionals continues to grow. Until recently, there have been no checks on the filing of these claims. In states without safeguards, people can sue anyone involved in a project if they perceive construction defects. Design professionals are often named in these suits.States without legislation to safeguard against meritless claims are also seeing an increase in the costs of insurance and construction. Design professionals have difficulty getting adequate insurance, and other project parties affected by the designers’ errors
Clark Prothero, Robert Wilson and A. Scott Young have assumed leadership roles at consulting and program management firm Raba Kistner Infrastructure in Lehi, Utah. Gary Raba, former RKI president, has accepted the position of chairman of the board of parent company Raba Kistner Inc. Related Links: Wheeler Employeees Work as Volunteers in Mexico ENR Mountain States 2013 Top 20 Under 40 Prothero, RKI vice president, becomes the office leader with responsibility for the Utah and New York offices. Under Prothero, the Utah office has worked on several projects, including the I-15 CORE, for which RKI performed independent quality assurance.Christine King
When the two-phase expansion of U.S. Highway 36 between Denver and Boulder is finished in a few years, the roadway will be one of the "smartest" and most innovative in the country. The project, whose first phase is one-third complete, will provide four modes of travel in one place for the first time in Colorado—bus, high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) and high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes as well as a separate commuter bikeway next to the highway. Related Links: CDOT Selects Ames-Granite Joint Venture CDOT Selects Design-Build Team for Phase 2 The multimodal, design-build U.S. 36 Express Lanes Project is estimated to cost
The cautious optimism and widespread uncertainty expressed by contractors in recent years have all but disappeared in 2013, as leaders of the region's larger firms say the industry's much-anticipated recovery is well under way. They report more available work, stronger markets and improving fees and margins, which are not yet back to prerecession levels. Related Links: Notable Recent P3 Success Stories in Colorado Institutional, Health-Care Work Lead List of Biggest New Projects "We are definitely excited and upbeat about 2013 and beyond," says Mark Reilly, senior vice president at Denver's JE Dunn Construction. "We have clearly bounced off the bottom
The story of Okland Construction begins far from Salt Lake City. The company was started in 1918 by Norwegian boat builder John Okland, who immigrated to America, drawn here by a chance encounter. He launched a company that four generations later continues to shape the skyline of the new West. Related Links: Salt Lake City Public Safety Building Net Zero New SLC Federal Courthouse on Schedule "He was coming from Norway to study engineering and live with an uncle in North Dakota," says Randy Okland, current Okland Construction board chairman. He recounts the story of his grandfather's passage to America
Mortenson Construction Co. has consistently leveraged its skills in virtual building, collaboration and prefabrication to build some of the region's largest and most complex projects, usually ones on short schedules and tight budgets. Those skills and a track record of service to long-term clients helped the company thrive during the recent recession. Related Links: Mortenson Tops Out Exempla St. Joseph Hospital Project Mortenson Breaks Ground on UCCS Parking Structure Mortenson's Denver office helped the Minneapolis-based contractor remain financially strong with company-wide revenue ranging from $2.8 billion in 2008 to $2.3 billion in 2012. Last year, the Denver office generated $298
A team of researchers led by Colorado State University engineering professor John van de Lindt has spent the last month shaking a four-story building in San Diego to learn how to make structures with first-floor garages better withstand seismic shocks. “Earthquakes are particularly damaging to buildings with open spaces at street level because they collapse; the first-floor parking makes the building structurally weak and soft,” van de Lindt says. “There are tens of thousands of these multifamily buildings throughout California and much of the U.S., making this a serious safety issue.”Since July, the team has successfully tested a variety of
The Dept. of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden has published a report on the land-use requirements of solar power plants based on actual land-use practices from existing solar facilities. “Having real data from a majority of the solar plants in the United States will help people make proper comparisons and informed decisions,” says the report’s lead author Sean Ong. The study, called “Land-use Requirements for Solar Power Plants in the United States,” was written with NREL colleagues Clinton Campbell, Robert Margolis, Paul Denholm and Garvin Heath.Ong gathered data from 72% of the solar-power plants installed or under construction
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