April 4, 2022

ENR Award of Excellence

Health Equity Humanitarian Delivers Hospitals for the Poor

Veteran contractor Jim Ansara wins 2022 ENR Award of Excellence for plowing through obstacles to build sustainable and resilient medical infrastructure in resource-starved regions around the world

Nadine M. Post

March 31, 2022

No Comments

Veteran contractor Jim Ansara wins 2022 ENR Award of Excellence for plowing through obstacles to build sustainable and resilient medical infrastructure in resource-starved regions around the world.

Scott Blair, Nadine Post, Scott Hilling, Jim Ansara

Update

Disasters and Loss Won't Keep Ansara From His True Calling

Scott Blair

March 31, 2022

No Comments

When Nadine Post arrived in Boston last July 8 to report a profile on the nonprofit Build Health International, which constructs and maintains modern hospitals in Haiti and other low-income regions, she was alerted that BHI’s Jim Ansara, his staff and their Boston-based hospital-operator partners might be distracted during interviews.

Congress

Obituary: Alaska Rep. Don Young, 88, Was Long-Time Infrastructure Leader

Tom Ichniowski

March 21, 2022

No Comments

Long-serving House member led the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee from 2001 to 2007.

Five Minutes With: Jacobs Megaproject PM Jessica Becker

March 9, 2022

No Comments

Construction manager for $11-billion East Side Access rail megaproject came to the job straight from college.

Producers Shift to Make More Lower-Carbon Portland-Limestone Cement

C.J. Schexnayder

March 29, 2022

No Comments

As construction strives to meet emissions standards, a persistent obstacle is the carbon-intensive process that produces cement. But the emergence of low-carbon solutions to help change the calculus of cement’s creation seems to have hit a tipping point.

California Grid Operator Plans Record $2.9B Project Spend

Greg Aragon

March 25, 2022

No Comments

Operator of most of the state grid announced March 17 a 10-year transmission upgrade plan, specifying 23 projects to accommodate a big boost in planned carbon-free power.

Climate Change

Canada’s Eastern Provinces Weigh Major Flood-Risk Fix

Scott Van Voorhis

March 25, 2022

No Comments

New engineering study prices cost up to $250M to bolster very old earthen dikes that are the only defense for a low-lying, critical Nova Scotia-New Brunswick transportation corridor.

FERC Assesses Impacts of GHG Emissions in Decision-making

Corinne Grinapol

March 29, 2022

No Comments

As the Biden administration ramps up efforts to include consideration of project greenhouse gas emissions impacts in policymaking, court developments and a March 24 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission action show a fluctuating path toward final carbon effect rules.

SEC Proposes Rule Requiring Public Firms to Report Climate Risks

Debra K. Rubin

March 21, 2022

No Comments

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would seek standardized disclosures of climate-related business risks and greenhouse gas emissions for the first time. A 60-day comment period still is ahead, as supporters and opponents line up.

Workplace Safety

Mortenson Subcontractor Fires Worker Over Meta Data Center Noose

Noose incident followed case of racist graffiti at same project

James Leggate

March 23, 2022

No Comments

Southland Industries employee admitted to tying the noose at the Utah project, the contractor says.

Energy Construction

Russia Sanctions Could Propel North America LNG Projects

Debra K. Rubin

March 26, 2022

No Comments

Developers weigh options to expedite export infrastructure as Biden administration pushes market to help Europe cut Russia ties, but U.S. and global clean energy pressure clouds long term growth outlook. Issues also are set to scale up mining projects in the U.S.

Infrastructure Act Rollout

US DOT Seeks Applicants for $2.9B in Discretionary Grants

Grant-seekers can use single form for one or more types of grants

Tom Ichniowski

March 23, 2022

No Comments

Announcement covers two new, one existing DOT program

Walsh Suit Takes Santa Ana Streetcar Project on Side Trip to Court

Richard Korman

March 16, 2022

No Comments

Contractor claims project design is unbuildable.

Legal

Whistleblower Contractor Exposes Competitor's Alleged DBE Fraud

James Leggate

March 18, 2022

One Comment

An Illinois steel and rebar contractor agreed to a settlement after the government intervened in the case.

Bankrupt Canada Contractor Execs Ordered to Repay $26 Million

Scott Van Voorhis

March 22, 2022

No Comments

Ex-president of Bondfield Construction, once a major Ontario public contractor, will appeal the repay order, which the court said is based on a bankruptcy monitor's allegation of fraudulent invoicing.

How the Jury Divided $112M in Seattle Crane Collapse Damages

Richard Korman

March 22, 2022

No Comments

The civil lawsuit damage awards don't line up neatly with the proposed state safety penalties.

Liability

Engineer at Flint Negligence Trial Details Government Water Errors

Richard Korman

Jeff Yoders

March 15, 2022

No Comments

Lockwood Andrews Newnam chief engineer details assurances that he claims were betrayed by Flint officials, leading to the city's water crisis.

Water Infrastructure

Clean Water Funding Formula Comes Under Scrutiny in Congress

Tom Ichniowski

March 16, 2022

No Comments

Stakes rise as new infrastructure law hikes State Revolving Fund totals.

Federal Buildings

VA Proposes to Reshape Its Vast Health Care Facility Portfolio

Tom Ichniowski

March 17, 2022

No Comments

The Dept. of Veterans Affairs outlines a wide-ranging blueprint to revamp its sprawling network of hundreds of health care facilities and increase the number of VA hospitals.

World's Longest Suspension Bridge Opens in Turkey

Peter Reina

March 21, 2022

One Comment

Global team worked on Dardanelles crossing called the 1915Çanakkale Bridge.

Buildings

Howard U. Launches $750M Construction, Renovation Program

Jim Parsons

March 24, 2022

No Comments

Five-year effort is Washington, D.C., school's largest real estate investment in 155 years and largest single classroom addition since 1984.

Materials

US Will Switch to Tariff-Rate Quota for UK Steel Imports

Shift in policy is similar to recent tariff agreements with EU, Japan

James Leggate

March 23, 2022

No Comments

The Biden administration replaces a Trump-era tariff on British steel products with an arrangement that allows some goods to be imported duty-free.

Transportation

Norway Signs Off on $2.2B Contract for Road and Tunnel Project

Peter Reina

March 16, 2022

No Comments

Norway’s Public Roads Administration (NPRA) has sealed the country’s largest-ever design, build, finance and maintain contract, valued at $2.2 billion, for a highway link between the city of Bergen and Sotra Island.

2022 First Quarterly Cost Report

Alisa Zevin

March 28, 2022

One Comment

Construction starts are once again increasing after a slowdown in the fourth quarter of 2021. But labor shortages continue, and after a brief decline, materials prices are again climbing, caused partially by the war in Ukraine.

Methodology

2022 1Q Cost Report: Material Prices Continued to Rise in 2021

Alisa Zevin

March 28, 2022

No Comments

Although ENR’s indexes measure the costs of non-residential buildings, the housing market has had a major impact on index movement.

Labor

2022 1Q Cost Report: Executive Pay Expected to Rise as Firms Look to Future

Bruce Buckley

March 28, 2022

No Comments

With first-quarter construction starts trending above 2021 activity, the industry’s need to attract and retain talent is on the rise as well.<

Materials

2022 1Q Cost Report: No Return to Normal As Conflict Roils Material Markets

Jeff Yoders

March 28, 2022

No Comments

Contractors hoped a return to a pre-pandemic materials supply free of logistics bottlenecks would come in early 2022, but then Russia invaded Ukraine.

Equipment

2022 1Q Cost Report: Construction Activity, Supply Chain Issues Keep Utilization High

Jeff Rubenstone

March 28, 2022

No Comments

The construction equipment sector is still working through supply chain issues that bedeviled it in 2021, while an active construction market ikeeps machines in use longer and constrains the flow of used iron into the normal secondary channels.

Confidence Index

2022 1Q Cost Report: Confidence Stays Steady As Execs Wait and See

Jonathan Keller

March 28, 2022

No Comments

ENR’s Construction Industry Confidence Index remained steady in Q1, rising slightly to a rating of 61, a one-point bump from the final quarter of 2021. The index had fallen the previous two quarters.

Economics

2022 1Q Cost Report: Challenges Persist As Construction Starts Grow

Alisa Zevin

March 28, 2022

No Comments

As the height of the pandemic continues to recede, contractors still face several ongoing issues, including sky-high materials prices and staff shortages.

Editorials

Please End Gas Tax Holiday Nonsense

March 28, 2022

No Comments

One day there will be a book on the ups and downs of state gas taxes and infrastructure finance—with a whole chapter dedicated to what is unfolding during the inflation surge of 2021 and 2022.

Equipment

Bobcat Introduces All-Electric Compact Track Loader, Sees Future in EVs

Jeff Rubenstone

March 4, 2022

No Comments

The new T7X model eliminates the diesel engine and the entire hydraulics system, pointing the way toward a future of fully electrified heavy equipment.

Pulse: Project News for the Week of April 4, 2022

March 28, 2022

No Comments

Project news from Dodge Data & Analytics.

Technology

Autodesk Goes Into the Wild With Latest Acquisition

Terms were not disclosed, but Autodesk promises tighter workflow integration of The Wild's tools

Jeff Yoders

March 24, 2022

No Comments

Purchase terms for The Wild, a technology firm with an immersive virtual/extended reality environment for industry professionals and a dedicated virtual meetings tool, were not disclosed.

Construction Economics for April 4, 2022

March 28, 2022

No Comments

ENR’s 20-city average cost indexes, wages and materials prices. Historical data and details for ENR’s 20 cities can be found at ENR.com/economics

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