The Port Commission of The Port of Houston Authority reduced its original funding agreement with the Texas Dept. of Transportation to widen Port Road to a four-lane boulevard and construct an overpass at Bayport Terminal by $629,622. The original project costs, estimated by TxDOT at $16.6 million, and funding agreement, were based on preliminary design information. Because the low bid for the project came in at $4.3 million below the estimated construction cost, the port authority’s share of the total project cost has decreased by $629,622 to a total of $2.7 million. The balance of the cost is to be
Houston-based Texas Sterling Construction began work recently on Houston’s IH-610/North Loop reconstruction project with the removal of the existing pavement. The contractor must utilize the existing shoulders to for its work zone while maintaining the flow of traffic along the corridor. Related Links: TxDOT to Lose $742 Million in Federal Funding $273 Million Approved for Pass-Through Projects Statewide Sterling Construction Awarded $20-Million Collin County Project NTTA Opens Seven-Mile Segment of Sam Rayburn Tollway HNTB, Central Texas Mobility Authority Renew Partnership The $29-million project has an anticipated completion of summer 2011.
This fall, the Texas Dept. of Transportation transferred a portion of State Highway 121 from Hillcrest Road to Watters Road in Collin County to the North Texas Tollway Authority. SH 121 mainlanes became part of the NTTA system and are now an extension of the recently renamed Sam Rayburn Tollway. The service roads will retain the SH 121 designation. A new 7-mi segment of the roadway recently opened. Related Links: TxDOT to Lose $742 Million in Federal Funding $273 Million Approved for Pass-Through Projects Statewide Sterling Construction Awarded $20-Million Collin County Project HNTB, Central Texas Mobility Authority Renew Partnership Texas
Irving-based Fluor Corp. helped LDK Solar’s polysilicon plant in Xinyu City, China, toward its first successful production run. As the engineering, procurement and construction management contractor, Fluor helped bring the facility from groundbreaking to first production in 20 months. LDK Solar initiated production ramp-up of operations for its first 5,000 metric-ton train of its eventual 15,000 MT (annualized capacity) polysilicon plant in Xinyu earlier this month. Related Links: EPA, TCEQ Adds Terrell Warehouse to Superfund Clean-Up Sites World’s Largest Wind Farm Opens in Roscoe DFW Contractors Sign Agreement to Keep Waters Pollution-Free KBDJ Quarry Earns Industry Awards for Environmental Operations
Two years after the start of construction, The Austonian topped out with the placement of a final steel beam this fall on the tallest residential building in Austin and the western U.S., according to the project’s developer. Balfour Beatty has topped out on the 56-story Austin high-rise residential project aptly named The Austonian. The building will be the city’s tallest residential tower when complete. Related Links: Poor Economy Doesn’t Slow Student Housing Construction GSA Awards Beck Technology $60M in BIM, Laser Scanning Contracts Dallas Museum of Nature & Science Unveils Designs, Building Model Satterfield & Pontikes Tops Out at Texas
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality announced the Van der Horst USA Corp. site in Terrell has been proposed to the National Priorities List of Superfund sites. Related Links: World’s Largest Wind Farm Opens in Roscoe Fluor Enables Solar Plant to Reach First Production in 20 Months DFW Contractors Sign Agreement to Keep Waters Pollution-Free KBDJ Quarry Earns Industry Awards for Environmental Operations Port of Houston Reduces TxDOT Project by Half Million The Van der Horst USA site, located in a commercial warehouse district, is an inactive chromium and iron plating facility that began operations
Ocean Towers LP hired Controlled Demolition Inc. of Phoenix, Md., to raze its incompletecondominium tower on South Padre Island, which is plagued by 14 in. of differential vertical subsidence between the post-tensioned, low-rise parking garage attached to the tower, Engineering News-Record reported. According to the owner, the tower’s weight caused a layer of expandable clay under an upper sand layer to compress. Settlement followed, causing damage to the garage at the connection to the tower. The developer stopped construction last year, when the frame was topped out and half clad. The building, designed by Brownsville-based Walker & Perez Architects with
The Trinity Trust Foundation and the city of Dallas announced a $10 million gift for The Trinity project, which features the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge - the first vehicular bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava in the United States. This world-class bridge is being constructed to seamlessly connect Singleton Boulevard in West Dallas across the Trinity River to Woodall Rodgers (Spur 366) in downtown Dallas. This bridge’s central arch will reach 400-ft high upon completion. Pieces of the white arch, which arrived in late July, and other steel bridge components could begin being hoisted into place by the end of the
Austin-based interior architecture and design firm lauckgroup and Dallas-based Heery International teamed up to design the University of Texas at Austin’s new $7.5-million H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports. Slated for completion this month, the new 27,500-sq-ft center, located in the North End Zone Building at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, will showcase sports and physical cultures information and artifacts. Related Links: Poor Economy Doesn’t Slow Student Housing Construction GSA Awards Beck Technology $60M in BIM, Laser Scanning Contracts Dallas Museum of Nature & Science Unveils Designs, Building Model Satterfield & Pontikes Tops Out at Texas A&M
Texas A&M University-San Antonio selected San Antonio-based Bartlett Cocke General Contractors as the construction manager-at-risk and the San Antonio-based architecture firm Kell Muñoz, Inc. as the designer of the campuses’ first building. Related Links: Poor Economy Doesn’t Slow Student Housing Construction GSA Awards Beck Technology $60M in BIM, Laser Scanning Contracts Dallas Museum of Nature & Science Unveils Designs, Building Model Satterfield & Pontikes Tops Out at Texas A&M Health Science Center McCarthy Constructing Fort Worth Westside Water Treatment Plant Sinking Texas Gulf Coast Condos Razed Before Completion Work Under Way on 85-Acre Beaumont ISD Athletic Complex Montgomery County Emergency