Industry News Briefs

July 31, 2008 Headlines
Transportation Public-Private Partnerships Soar to Record Levels
Americans’ Reduced Driving Saps Highway Funding
Green Construction at Healthcare Facilities Becoming More Affordable

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Transportation Public-Private Partnerships Soar to Record Levels
U.S. Department of Transportation (07/22/08)

The U.S. Department of Transportation has released a new report that found soaring levels of public-private partnerships within the U.S. transportation sector. According to the study, upwards of 20 major public-private highway and transit projects are currently in various stages of development, fueled by the growing realization that such ventures can successfully relieve congestion and encourage infrastructure development while reducing project costs and timelines as well as transferring risks to the private sector. "This nationwide trend on the part of state and local governments is further proof that innovative approaches to financing and managing transportation are increasingly attractive compared to traditional tax and spend methods," says U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters. "States and local governments across the country are recognizing public-private partnerships are an effective means to deliver transportation projects"
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Americans’ Reduced Driving Saps Highway Funding
Federal Highway Administration Release (07/28/08)

Figures from the Federal Highway Administration show that the number of vehicle-miles traveled in the United States declined by 9.6 billion in May 2008 compared to May 2007, the third largest monthly decrease in the 66 years since such figures have been kept. Between November 2007 and May 2008, 40.5 billion fewer miles have been traveled; three of the largest monthly declines ever recorded have occurred since December. Fewer miles traveled is translating into less funding for the Highway Trust Fund through revenues from gasoline and diesel taxes. "By driving less and using more fuel-efficient vehicles, Americans are showing us that the highways of tomorrow cannot be supported solely by the federal gas tax," says U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters. "We must embrace more sustainable funding sources for highways and bridges through more sustainable and effective ways such as congestion pricing and private activity bonds."
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Green Construction at Healthcare Facilities Becoming More Affordable
Press Enterprise (Riverside, CA) (07/19/08) Hines, Lora

Analysts and healthcare professionals note that it is costing less to build energy-efficient and environmentally friendly hospitals. This is especially true in California's Inland Empire, where such providers as Kaiser Permanente are making plans to replace and expand older facilities. Earlier in July, Kaiser announced plans to spend an estimated $700 million to replace the nearly 60-year-old Fontana hospital with a seven-story tower designed to provide more advanced medical care in a comfortable setting. Set to open in 2013, the project is to be one of at least three to be announced in the Inland area this year. Loma Linda University Medical Center and a doctors group recently detailed plans to spend $211 million to build a 200-bed hospital and medical office buildings near Murrieta. Earlier in the year, Riverside Community Hospital launched a $400 million expansion that will more than double its space by 2013. On a national level, recommendations for greener hospitals started taking hold about five years ago with release of the Green Guide for Health Care. Developed by nonprofit environmental construction organizations, the guide is a tool healthcare providers have been using when designing and erecting new facilities.
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Improvements Are Needed to More Fully Assess Predicted Impacts of New Starts Projects
GAO Reports (07/08)

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) assesses and suggests new fixed guideway transit projects for funding for its New Starts program using the evaluation criteria specified in law. However, the Government Accountability Office recently found that the measures for such criteria do not capture all of the total project benefits. It also discovered that FTA must tackle multiple systemic obstacles if it wants to overhaul the New Starts program, such as addressing various program objectives, restrictions in local travel models, the necessity to preserve the rigor while reducing the intricacy of the evaluation process, and establishing comprehensible and consistent guidance for integrating qualitative data. FTA has taken action to lessen the modeling constraints by adding proxy measures to account for various project impacts and forming a request for proposals to ensure local travel models better predict changes in highway user benefits, but FTA officials contend that the request for proposals is simply an initial step in overhauling local travel models, and more resources are required. GAO urges the Secretary of Transportation to take steps to enhance the New Starts evaluation process by inquiring about more resources to enrich local travel models and requesting a legislative change to enable FTA to think about the dollar value of mobility improvements in evaluating projects.
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Western Oil Shale Potential: 800 Billion Barrels of Recoverable Oil
U.S. Department of the Interior (07/22/08)

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has published proposed regulations to establish a commercial oil shale program, which the bureau says could potentially add as much as 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil from the western part of the country. "As Americans pay more than $4 for a gallon of gasoline and watch energy prices continue to climb higher and higher, we need to be doing more to develop our own energy here at home, through resources such as oil shale," said Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne. "Instead, I find it ironic that we are asking countries halfway around the world to produce more for us." National Energy Policy Act analysis would have to be done on the proposed development before any oil shale leases would be issued, and lessees would also have to obtain required permits from state and local authorities. The proposed leasing regulations incorporate provisions of the Energy Policy Act and the Mineral Leasing Act relating to maximum oil shale lease size; maximum acreage limitations; rental; and lease diligence, and will propose a range of royalty rate options, while setting up a 60-day period for public input on the royalty provisions. The largest known deposits of oil shale are located in a 16,000-square mile area in the Green River formation in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, where formations hold the equivalent of up to 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil. The bureau is only releasing proposed regulations now because Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2008 prohibits the agency from using FY2008 funds to prepare or publish final regulations; President Bush has called on Congress to remove the ban on finalizing oil shale program regulations, the bureau says.
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High Construction Costs Hamper Power Plant Plans
Washington Business Journal (07/28/08) Schultz, Sue

Rising construction costs for power plants is threatening to delay several proposed power projects in Maryland. Few new power plant projects have been proposed in Maryland due to the escalating cost of generation. With significant electric generation shortfalls predicted by 2011, the state is trying to come up with ideas to attract new generation investment to the area. Until that happens, Malcolm Woolf, director of the Maryland Energy Administration, says the state will depend on energy conservation. Among the proposed projects delayed by construction costs is Sempra Energy's 600-Mw natural gas-fired power plant in Frederick County. Though the project obtained state approval in 2005, Sempra says capacity market prices at the regional grid operator PJM were not high enough to pay for the $400 million to $500 million needed to build the plant.

Five Strategies to Keep Your Construction Business Profitable During An Economic Slowdown
Associated Construction Publications (07/22/08)

California-based management solutions company D. Brown Management offers five strategic tips for construction companies looking to stay profitable amid a troublesome economy. The first strategy is to evaluate the entire budget to find everything that can reduce expenses, ranging from cutting down on paper use and driving to perhaps reconsidering salaries or headcount. The second strategy is to bolster the company's marketing efforts; companies that respond to economic problems by cutting marketing and promotions budgets are doing exactly the opposite of what they should. Third, companies should take advantage of the opportunity to review all of their existing contracts--from the accounting contracts to the breakroom vending-machine supplier--and renegotiate all that they can. Fourth, the companies should reconnect themselves with their existing and past clients, reminding them of the company's offerings, using such techniques as phone calls, marketing materials, or even golf days or client appreciation dinners to recognize their loyalty and valuable business. Finally, it may be a good idea to hire an expert to offer ideas on improving process and workflow and adjusting the business plan: "If you take the time to design the processes correctly and stay focused, goals will naturally be achieved as a byproduct," says David Brown, president of D. Brown Management.
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A Prefab, Rotating Skyscraper Coming to a City Near You?
Architectural Record (07/08) McKeough, Tim

At a June press conference in New York, architect David Fisher unveiled a concept he calls the Dynamic Tower, a prefab structure with revolving floors that would use wind turbines and solar panels to power itself and structures around it. Fisher said that construction is set to begin soon on two of these skyscrapers--an 80-story, 1,380-foot one in Dubai and a 70-story, 1,312-foot one in Moscow--with Leslie E. Robertson Associates on board as structural engineer and the mechanical engineering firm LEHR Consultants International involved as well. Fisher founded the design company Fiteco Ltd. in 1985 and designed the pre-assembled Smart Bathroom system for the Leonardo Group that has been installed in Dubai, London, and Moscow hotels; more recently he founded the Dynamic Architecture Group to focus entirely on the Dynamic Tower, which is touted as a net-positive-energy skyscraper with independently rotating floors. Three core ideas make up Fisher's vision, he says: skyscrapers should not be static, they should be built with factory-made modular components, and they should produce their own energy. The construction plans begin with putting up a fixed concrete core, around which prefabricated living units would be hoisted up in sections, which Fisher says would take 30 percent less time than conventional construction. Questions from journalists at the press conference included who would control each floor's rotation. Fisher responded with several scenarios, such as a central control or a time-based sharing system.
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Seismic Design Experts Assess Earthquake Building Codes for High-Rise Structures
Building Design & Construction (07/08) Estes, Lenora Jane

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is urging a more rigorous design approach to meet the seismic needs of tall buildings in different types of environments around the world. While cities like New York or Dubai have similarly moderate levels of seismic activity, some Middle Eastern countries such as Iran have cities that are known for a great deal of earthquakes. Making its announcement from Dubai, CTBUH warns that inefficient or even unsafe construction could result by applying inappropriate building codes for tall buildings in cities like these. "Nobody [has] argued that the current codes are adequate for the analysis and design of tall and very tall buildings," says Michael Willford, CTBUH co-chair and director of the engineering firm Arup, adding, "This shows a growing awareness that current building codes are unsuitable for high-rise buildings." Many codes worldwide are based on U.S. codes that were developed for low- to moderate-rise buildings' seismic needs, and thus may be unsuitable for specific modeling, analysis, and acceptance criteria for tall buildings, he says. "Building code procedures were not written for the design of the very tall buildings that are now being built around the world," Willford says. "This is not necessarily a problem for wind, strength, or material performance, but it is an issue for earthquake design." Working with Professor Andrew Whittaker of the University of Buffalo and Ron Klemencic of Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Willford has developed an initial set of recommendations for high-rise seismic design for CTBUH, recommending a modern performance-based approach similar to that used for Chinese and Japanese tall buildings. "We are now in an era where modern sophisticated computer analysis can predict with reasonable confidence how a building will behave in extreme earthquakes," says David Scott, CTBUH chairman. "We need to use this knowledge to change our codes without waiting for the next disaster."
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Old Above, New Below
Civil Engineering (07/08) Vol. 78, No. 7, P. 62; Swartz, Jason T.; Cline, Mark F.; McKelvey, James G.

Below the city of Charleston, S.C., is a sophisticated wastewater collection system, and Charleston Water System embarked a multimillion dollar project to upgrade the system. The project's successes serve as models of careful planning and innovative design and construction. The deep sewer tunnel collection system suffered from corrosion, which led to engineers' realization that the 6-inch diameter ventilation lines installed to remove entrained air were greatly undersized, causing blockage and allowing the entrained air to mix with hydrogen sulfide to produce sulfuric acid that ate away at the steel and concrete in the tunnels. The four-phase collection system replacement program started with the $15 million renovation of the severely damaged Harbor Tunnel segment through the construction of the 5,200-linear-foot Harbor Replacement Tunnel, while the second phase involved the $26.5 million assembly of the 12,000-linear-foot Ashley River Sewer Replacement Tunnel. The 18,100-linear-foot Cooper River Sewer Replacement Tunnel was built in the third phase at a cost of $39.6 million, while the fourth phase will entail the construction of the 8,300-linear-foot West Ashley River Sewer Replacement Tunnel. The design and construction of the replacement tunnels had to be planned with two main geologic features--the Cooper Formation and surficial deposits--accounted for, and seismic analysis by a professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University ascertained that ground movement caused by seismic waves would be amplified by the surficial deposits. The reconstruction of all sewer connections and related infrastructure was deemed essential in order to fulfill the mandate that Charleston's basic infrastructure services must be quickly restored following a major seismic event, so the city's drop shafts and deep tunnel system were designed and built to tolerate the deflections predicted by the professor's model. The design not only had to maximize the system's hydraulic performance, but also prevent the buildup and unexpected release of air pressure, so the vortex was designed to generate a hollow core within the drop pipe's center so that air could be vented through the throat. It was required by project documents that all large-diameter shafts be built using the caisson method, and the final tunnel lining was composed of fiberglass mortar pipe that was produced using a centrifugally cast thermosetting polyester resin, glass fiber reinforcement, and additives.

A Formwork Formula
Structural Engineer (07/08) Vol. 9, No. 6, P. 26; Schaeffer, Michael

There have been a number of innovations in forming systems over the last several years as a result of the increased competition between European forming companies and their domestic counterparts. For instance, the most commonly used system for handset wall forming--which is made up steel-framed, wood-faced panels that require consumable ties at 2-feet-on-center and one connection per square foot--is being replaced with larger, two-person handset systems that are require less labor and use reusable taper ties. In addition, a new construction method that uses engineered lumber and metal posts can increase post spacing by as much as 5 to 10 feet. This increased spacing reduces congestion at construction sites and requires less material on site to form the same slab area as older methods. And since less material is used, there are fewer handling requirements, less labor needs, lower transport costs, and increased productivity on the job site. When considering whether to use one of the newer forming systems or an older system, contractors must take several factors into account, including whether the material required for a particular system is readily available, and whether the supplier manufactures the material or purchases it from another company. Contractors should also take into account whether or not the supplier provides on-site field service to train the formwork crew. Finally, contractors should decide whether to purchase or rent a forming system. Purchasing a system is typically the most economic option if it will be needed for more than 8 to 10 months.
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Build Smarter, Faster, and Cheaper With BIM
Buildings (07/08) Vol. 102, No. 7, P. 94; Madsen, Jana J.

The promise of building information modeling (BIM) to virtually build facilities before any construction takes place, with enormous amounts of information thus made available, offers a number of vital business advantages. One important advantage of BIM is the design freedom it enables, allowing modeling of such wild architectural flights of fancy as Los Angeles's Walt Disney Concert Hall and New York's Freedom Tower. Another is the ability to perform many types of building analyses, including energy analysis and green design, based on the large amount of data in the building information model. Building code compliance, cost estimating, and materials/equipment inventory can also be more easily ascertained or performed with the help of BIM. Still another advantage of BIM is more streamlined creation and distribution of documents, enabling design and documentation to be performed at the same time. BIM can also help cut down on costs by resolving conflicts, omissions, and errors before the beginning of construction, and scheduling is made easier and more efficient with the help of 4-D capabilities. Finally, the information-rich BIM record of the facility as built is useful for facilities management, particularly with its ability to be expanded to all sorts of information on every system, product, fixture, and finish inside and outside the building.
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GPR: It's Worth Investigating, and Here's Why
Trenchless Technology (06/08) Vol. 18, No. 6, P. 30; Masters, Peter

Geophysical Survey Systems application specialist Peter Masters writes that ground penetrating radar (GPR) can augment the financial performance and safety of utility designation projects, noting that "with GPR's ability to identify many types of metallic and non-metallic structures in favorable conditions, utility installation companies, private locators and subsurface utility engineering (SUE) firms are successfully deploying GPR and improving the utility construction market. In most cases, and as recommended, GPR scanning is being done in conjunction with other utility designation methods such as the electromagnetic and radio frequency locating that is being provided through private locators, in-house locating crews and state and local one-call arrangements." Masters provides two examples that illustrate GPR's advantages in damage prevention: In one example, GPR was used to detect an unmarked natural gas line that was directly in the path and at the same depth of a planned drill shot in Florida, and that could have led to a potentially devastating scenario had the drill team not had the foresight and due diligence to consider such possibilities. In the second example, the horizontal and depth positioning of an untraceable sewer main was identified via GPR as part of a conduit installation under a road and the staging area for school buses in front of a public school in Florida. GPR was employed to scan the drill path, and found two sewer lines instead of one, at different depths and over three feet from the sewer department's marks on the ground.
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