Two harbor seals glided lazily through the water, glancing at the handful of construction workers putting the finishing touches on the new $18-million Rocky Shores exhibit at Utah's Hogle Zoo. Related Links: Engineering News Record Architectural Record Several weeks before the scheduled June 1 opening, the seals were getting accustomed to their new home, while Rizzo, the 14-year-old female polar bear from the Cincinnati Zoo, and three brown bears remained in quarantine a few more days before moving into their new enclosures.Workers from South Jordan, Utah-based Sirq Construction have just completed work on a project that has taken nearly two
Spring temperatures are turning up the heat on crews working to reopen Utah’s State Road 14 through Cedar Canyon in Central Utah after an October landslide sent nearly 1.5 tons of debris down onto the road. The highway has been closed following the slide, which broke apart and closed nearly 2,000 ft of the road, burying it in up to 100 ft of debris in some sections. The two-lane highway connects Interstate 15 and State Highway 89, passing near Cedar Breaks National Monument. Tourists, the owners of summer cabins, and ranchers looking to move livestock to summer ranges are pressing
Molybdenum and rhenium are not exactly names that roll off the tongue or carry the familiarity of the copper produced by Rio Tinto's Bingham Canyon mine in Utah's Oquirrh Mountains. While not familiar elements to most people, molybdenum and rhenium are nonetheless valuable to steel and petroleum producers, which is why Rio Tinto, the parent company of Kennecott Utah Copper (KUC), is investing approximately $340 million into building a one-of-a-kind facility to extract, process and package the minerals, using a process developed and patented by Rio Tinto. Kennecott's new molybdenum autoclave process (MAP) facility is rising on what was a
Following more than a decade of dreaming, drawing and fundraising, officials of the Tony-award-winning Utah Shakespeare Festival, housed on the campus of Southern Utah University in Cedar City, have announced plans to begin construction of a new $26-million theater. Rendering by Eaton Architecture The new $26-million Shakespeare theater will be patterned after the Globe Theater in England, where many of the Bards works were performed during his lifetime. The new facility will follow the Elizabethan-era design cues of the festival’s current Adams Theater, which has staged classic productions since 1971. The Adams Theater itself is patterned after the Globe Theater
Salt Lake City will add another landmark building to the greater downtown area with completion of the $125-million Public Safety Building, scheduled to open in spring 2013. It will replace the current building occupied by public safety administrators since 1958. Continuing a west-to-east line of civic buildings that includes the state's Matheson Courthouse, the historic City and County Building and the Moshe Safdie-designed Salt Lake City Public Library, the new Public Safety Building will fulfill a multitude of needs, including consolidating the administrative offices of the police and fire departments, central dispatch and a disaster/emergency operations center. It also will
Members of the Utah chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America gathered for their annual convention during the last week of January, with three days of meetings, seminars and a celebration of the construction industry in the Beehive state. Photo by Brian Fryer Spencer P. Eccles of the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development lays out the state's plans to encourage growth and construction in the coming years. In keeping with the theme of “Perspective,” the convention began with a state economic outlook from Spencer P. Eccles, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. Eccles provided some
The Salt Lake City School District is in the final stages of a $401-million seismic upgrade or replacement of all district facilities, with two projects to be completed this summer before the 24-year effort is finally done. Photo by Brian Fryer East High School in the Salt Lake City School District was completely rebuilt as part of a 24-year effort to make all district schools more seismically stable. East was the first of 20 schools rebuilt to meet new seismic and programming standards, while 16 schools were retrofitted. Of the 36 school buildings in the district, 22 were replaced and
The final piece of the funding puzzle for Utah Transit Authority’s TRAX light rail line to the Salt Lake City suburb of Draper was put in place on Dec. 12. Federal Transit Authority Administrator Peter M. Rogoff presented $116 million in federal funds to UTA and Draper city officials to help complete the rail extension. Photo by Brian Fryer FTA administrator Peter Rogoff addresses a gathering of construction workers, Draper City officials, residents and UTA directors on Dec. 12 in Salt Lake City to announce a $116-million grant to finalize funding for UTA's Front Lines 2015 project. Photo by Brian
Nestled in the foothills above Salt Lake City, the $102-million Natural History Museum of Utah in the Rio Tinto Center began welcoming visitors in mid-November. The new museum rests on a section of what was once the shoreline of ancient Lake Bonneville. It has already garnered praise from the design and building community as well as those wishing to explore the state’s unique people, geology and history. The NHMU, administered by the University of Utah, sits on a 17-acre site on the upper southeastern edge of campus with sweeping views of the Salt Lake Valley. The 163,000-sq-ft museum is now
Wheeler Machinery Co. celebrated 60 years in business in November with an afternoon visit from Utah Gov. Gary Herbert at the company’s Salt Lake City headquarters. Wheeler has been a fixture in the Utah construction and mining marketplace as the exclusive dealer and service center for Caterpillar equipment. Photo by Brian Fryer Rob Campbell, president of Wheeler Machinery (left), talks with Utah Gov. Gary Herbert during Wheeler's 60th anniversary celebration in November. Current company president Rob Campbell led the governor on a short tour of Wheeler’s repair and service shop. Herbert watched as technicians in the company’s Component Rebuild Center