Industry News Briefs
October 05, 2007 Headlines
Landmark Study Puts Rail Infrastructure Needs at $148 Billion
Build-Operate-Transfer in Infrastructure Projects in the United States
Stone-Matrix Asphalt Said To Eliminate Need For Runway Grooving
Program Provides Blueprint for Recruiting Minorities to Science and Engineering
More Green Building Legislation Including Green Globes as Option
Industry News
Landmark Study Puts Rail Infrastructure Needs at $148
Billion
Association of American Railroads (09/20/07)
A
new study conducted by transportation consulting firm Cambridge Systematics of
Cambridge, Mass., estimates that about $148 billion will need to be invested to
expand the U.S. freight rail infrastructure over the next 30 years to keep up
with demand for rail freight transportation, which is expected to nearly double
over the next three decades. "These investments will help the freight rail
industry ease highway congestion, reduce stress on highways and bridges,
significantly lower transportation-related energy consumption and emissions, and
maintain existing capacity for Amtrak and local commuter rail," says Association
of American Railroads head Edward R. Hamberger. "Without this investment, 30
percent of the rail miles in the primary corridors will be operating above
capacity by 2035, causing severe congestion that will affect every region of the
country and potentially shift freight to an already heavily congested highway
system." Needed will be new tracks, bridges, tunnels, terminals, and service
facilities.
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Build-Operate-Transfer in Infrastructure Projects in the
United States
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
(10/01/07) Vol. 133, No. 10, P. 728; Algarni, Ayed Muhammad; Arditi, David;
Polat, Gul
Build-operate-transfer (BOT) is a delivery/financing
system that could be a solution to the problem of public agencies not providing
enough funding for infrastructure projects. BOT consists of a private sponsor,
who finances the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of a public
project for a specified concession period. Once this period has concluded, the
sponsor transfers ownership of the project to the government agency. However,
very few government agencies use BOT. According to a questionnaire survey of
large municipalities and state departments of transportation, most agencies do
not use the delivery/financing system because of the availability of proven
alternatives and funds, the existence of political barriers, and government
agencies' and private sponsors' resistance to change.
Stone-Matrix Asphalt Said To Eliminate Need For Runway Grooving
Roads & Bridges (09/07) Vol. 45, No. 9, P. 38; Brown, Ray
Originally created in Europe to provide better studded-tire resistance, stone-matrix asphalt (SMA) has proven
itself to provide better overall performance than conventional hot-mix asphalt,
with better resistance to fatigue cracking and rutting. SMA use for highways has
continued to grow, and now some countries are experimenting with using it for
airfield surfacing, with successful results so far. The United States recently
sent a team of experts to China, where SMA surface mixtures have been used in 11
runways, to learn more about how SMA is used there and to investigate the SMA
mixtures' performance. SMA performance on airfields in Europe has generally been
good, and Auburn University's Airfield Asphalt Pavement Technology Program
(AAPTP) is funding a research project on SMA use on airfields, expected to be
finished in 2008. Many engineers believe that grooving airfield pavement
surface, which is done in the United States to improve wet-weather friction, may
not be necessary with SMA, whose surface texture will drain water below the
pavement surface if it is well compacted. Eliminating the grooving process would
cut down on costs. It is expected that SMA mixtures will improve performance and
cut down on frequency of maintenance and overlay construction, and after the
AAPTP-funded research is complete, airfield use of SMA is likely to rise
significantly in the near future.
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Program Provides Blueprint for Recruiting Minorities to
Science and Engineering
National Science Foundation (09/26/07)
The Model Institutions for Excellence (MIE) program sponsored by the
National Science Foundation and National Aeronautics and Space Administration
has succeeded in boosting the enrollment of minorities in science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at participating institutions. Bowie State
University in Maryland, Spelman College in Atlanta, Universidad Metropolitana in
Puerto Rico, the University of Texas at El Paso, Xavier University of Louisiana
in New Orleans, and the Oyate Consortium representing three tribal colleges in
the Midwest collectively increased minority student enrollment at a higher rate
than total STEM enrollment. Furthermore, the total number of undergraduate
degrees granted in STEM subjects increased by 44 percent from the 1994-95
academic year to the 2004-05 academic year. This is particularly noteworthy
given that the number of undergraduate degrees awarded in science and
engineering as a percentage of all conferred degrees has remained fundamentally
even at around 32 percent to 35 percent over the past four decades. "We now have
the institutional answer to the question of how to recruit these students,
support their needs, provide curriculum and institutional support and help them
plan for their post-undergraduate lives," says David Temple, MIE program manager
at NSF. The Institute for Higher Education Policy has received funding to help
disseminate the best practices learned from the program, including help to
bridge the transition from high school to college through teacher training and
summer orientation programs; mentoring opportunities for students once in
college; tutoring; opportunities for group study; and encouragement from faculty
and the business community to take part in research projects.
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Cleaning Up Acts
Commercial Property News
(09/01/07) Vol. 21, No. 15, P. 38; Duell, Jennifer
Brownfield-site
owners and developers may be facing a twofold tax problem and not even realize
it. Many real estate professionals may be unaware of Brownfield tax advantages,
particularly now that petroleum has been approved as a contaminant that owners
can deduct cleanup costs for. Additionally, many developers may be unaware that
the tax break will expire on Dec. 31. A new bill, however, H.R. 1753, would make
the expensing of environmental remediation costs permanent law. The U.S.
Conference of Mayors reports that the United States currently has more than
400,000 Brownfield sites, not including sites that have not yet been identified
as environmentally contaminated. Congress estimates that real estate owners that
clean contaminated sites could save $557 million in federal taxes through the
existing law. A significant amount of confusion over current law may have
resulted from a broad interpretation of the term "remediation," as well as the
list of environmental contaminants covered by the tax provision, says accountant
Preston Brooks. Most people assume the Brownfield deduction applies only to the
cleanup itself, but it also includes Phase I and Phase II environmental
evaluations. Brooks notes that environmental remediation involving heavy metals
or pesticides is not about cleaning as much as covering contaminants so they do
not come into direct contact with people, such as adding several feet of
clean-fill dirt or hardscaping with patios and sidewalks, the cost of which can
be deducted. The new law would also allow owners and developers to deduct the
cost of cleaning methyl tertiary-butyl ether, a gasoline additive that causes
severe groundwater contamination and is a problem throughout the nation. Some
advocates argue that the tax deductions are not enough of an incentive to tackle
the lengthy, costly, and hazardous job of Brownfield cleanup, and believe that
grants from the state would encourage more Brownfield projects.
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Revitalizing Excess Property
Federal Times
(09/10/07) Vol. 43, No. 29, P. 1; Kauffman, Tim
The Navy's 225-acre
support base in New Orleans was recommended to be shut down two years ago, a
move that could have saved the Navy $276 million over 20 years but would have
devastated the region by removing nearly 2,100 jobs. Instead, the based
participated in a program called enhanced use leasing that allows federal
agencies to renovate their dilapidated properties and campuses for no upfront
costs. Under the program agencies lease buildings and property to developers in
return for cash or similar services, such as upgrading or building facilities.
Enhanced-use leases and other public-private partnerships are becoming a more
common practice among federal agencies, including projects with Veterans
Affairs, Interior and Energy departments, the U.S. Postal Service, and NASA. The
Army is currently participating in more than 30 enhanced-use lease projects,
including the development of private offices, academic facilities, and a
conference center at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. The enhanced-use leasing
project in New Orleans is expected to produce a vibrant community with a child
care center, gyms, restaurants, and education and retail facilities.
Additionally, a 25-acre plot where the Marine Corps Reserve is currently located
will be closed in 2011 and either sold or donated for public interest use.
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Link, May Require Registration
More Green
Building Legislation Including Green Globes as Option
greenbuildingsNYC (09/19/2007)
Kentucky and Illinois have
joined the list of states with local legislation incorporating the Green Globes
system for rating green buildings, bringing the total count of such states to
11, said the Green Buildings Initiative. Kentucky has recommended that the
Finance and Administration Cabinet follow either LEED or Green Globes, while
school construction projects seeking state grants in Illinois must be certified
either under Green Globes, LEED, or the Illinois Capital Development Board’s
Green Building Advisory Committee Standards. Other states to add Green Globes to
their local laws are Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, North
Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. Legislators in many
places have sought greater flexibility and choice in green building legislation,
and Green Buildings Initiative President Ward Hubbell praised Kentucky and
Illinois "for providing multiple options in the marketplace, which helps drive
continuous improvement and encourages more people to design and build
green."
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Web Link, May Require Registration
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