Construction on Chile's largest hydroelectric initiative, the 2,750-MW HidroAysén project, is awaiting final approval by the country's environmental agency, who is expected to respond by next month. HidroAysén—a joint venture between Chilean power utilities Empresa Nacional de Electricidad SA and Colbun SA—submitted its environmental impact assessment on April 15. A decision by the Chilean government on the environmental license for the project is expected in May. HidroAysén involves construction of five powerplants with an installed capacity of 2,750 MW; the project is located on the Baker and Pascua rivers in the Aysén region of Chile. Transporting the power from Patagonia
In a move aimed at spurring U.S. exports of construction equipment and services to Brazil, the U.S. Export-Import Bank is providing a $1-billion line of credit for infrastructure projects in that country.
Article toolbar An effort to create wetlands out of dry chaparral in the Arizona desert has begun two new phases of work to support emergent marshes completed last year. The three-phase, $230-million Tres Rios Ecosystem Restoration and Flood Control Project is designed to improve a seven-mile-long section of the Salt and Gila rivers in southwestern Phoenix. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project is being built in coordination with the City of Phoenix. The wetlands are sustained using reclaimed water from the city’s 91st Avenue Wastewater Treatment Plant, near the convergence of the Salt, Agua Fria and Gila rivers. Last
One of the world’s largest run-of-the-river hydroelectric projects under construction is about to begin, installing unique bulb turbines that eventually will contribute 3,150 MW to Brazil’s energy grid. The $9-billion San Antonio hydroelectric project will require 44 massive bulb turbines seven meters in diameter, considered the largest ever built. Each turbine has 7-m-dia rotors and is capable of producing 71.6 MW of power. The turbine parts are being manufactured by France’s Alstom and the Austrian-German Voith Hydro in São Paulo, then shipped to the jobsite by boat to be re-assembled. The project on the Madiera River in the Brazilian Amazon
Since its inception in 2006, the most visible aspect of the Panama Canal’s $5.2-billion Third Lane Expansion project has been the excavation of the 6.7-kilometer-long Pacific Access Channel. With the completion of a $42.3-million, 1.8-km-long cofferdam this spring, that excavation is continuing as planned. The backfilled cellular cofferdam will hold back Miraflores Lake, the man-made body of water between the Miraflores locks and Pedro Miguel locks. Once the cofferdam is finished, excavation of 26 million cubic meters of material in the access-channel route can proceed as well as the construction of a permanent, $70-million, clay-core, basalt-rock-filled dam. The Pacific Access
Tucson, Ariz., secured federal funding for an ambitious project to build an electrically powered streetcar with the approval of a $63-million grant through the Federal Transit Administration. Photo courtesy City of Tucson Tucson�s modern streetcar project got a boost with the approval of a $63-million federal grant. Officials with the city�s transportation department finalized the paperwork for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) funds on Dec. 28. The move protects the project�s funding from congressional stimulus cuts, they say. The city now must find a way to close the $26-million funding gap for the project. Tucson also is awaiting
Tucson, Ariz., secured federal funding for an ambitious project to build an electrically powered streetcar with the approval of a $63-million grant through the Federal Transit Administration. Officials with the city’s transportation department finalized the paperwork for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) funds on Dec. 28. The move protects the project’s funding from congressional stimulus cuts, they say. The city now must find a way to close the $26-million funding gap for the project. The city must close a $26-million funding gap. Tucson also is awaiting FTA’s approval of an environmental assessment, required before grant funds can be
Colombian crews have closed two-thirds of a large levee-canal breach that opened on Nov. 30 and spilled millions of gallons of Magdalena River water across vast sections of the country’s coastal plain. The disastrous flooding, worsened by persistent rainfall, has killed several hundred people, left millions homeless and resulted in billions of dollars in property damage to the South American nation. Photo: Vali Cooper International, LLC/BAR The site of Colombian towns flooded to the rafters recalls visions of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans in 2005 and, at least in the case of the Dique Canal breach, the silent risk levees
The typical winter rains fueled unusually strong El Ni�o weather pattern have lashed Colombia’ Caribbean coast over the past month leaving hundreds dead, thousands homeless and left the much of the South American country’s infrastructure crippled. + Large Image Graphic: C.J. Schexnayder Breach led to widespread flooding on coastal plain. The Colombian branch of the Red Cross set the death toll at 281 and estimate that a total of 2.2 million people in the country have so far been affected by the rains, floods and landslides. The Colombian government puts the damage estimate at more than $5.2 billion to date.
A $410-million Lima Metro Line 1 is on pace for completion in June 2011, Peruvian officials say. The 18-month project involves the construction of 11.7 kilometers of new train line and nine stations as well as the complete refurbishment of 9.8 km of existing line and seven stations. Approximately 85% of the civil works for the 22-km-long route are expected to be completed by the end of the year. The Consorcio Tren Eléctrico, in public-private partnership with the Peruvian government, is the general contractor. Consortium members include the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht and the Peruvian company Gra�a y Montero, with
