Industry News Briefs
December 18, 2008 Headlines
Mayors Press for Piece of the Infrastructure Pie
GAO Studies Impact of Federal Highway-Funding Requirements
BIM Familiarity Breeds Enthusiasm
Industry News
Mayors Press for Piece of the Infrastructure Pie
Reuters (12/08/08) Lambert, Lisa
President-elect Barack Obama is being urged by U.S. mayors to funnel infrastructure spending directly to cities rather than state governments. The mayors say that it would expedite aid to the faltering economy. The U.S. Conference of Mayors told reporters it has identified nearly 11,400 infrastructure projects worth $73.2 billion in 427 cities that Obama's economic recovery plan could finance, adding that over 800,000 jobs would be created in the next two years by the measure. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said many of those initiatives are small, have already gotten local authorization, and could commence the moment a check is signed. House Infrastructure Committee Chairman Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) said funding under the Obama plan would probably be disseminated using a formula such as one employed to distribute federal surface transportation funds to both states and cities, while Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said most cities should not be required to apply to the states for their piece of that money. Bloomberg cautioned that funds allocated to states could be channeled into plugging up budget shortfalls rather than into capital improvement investments. He estimated that there is $1.50 in economic activity generated for every $1 spent on infrastructure. U.S. governors meeting with Obama last week also lobbied for greater public works spending, and the National Governors Association said it wants the President-elect to include $136 billion in infrastructure backing in his recovery initiative, while the mayors' conference is requesting $180 billion over a two-year period. Almost 50 percent of a $60.8 billion stimulus package that passed the House of Representatives three months ago was pledged to public works spending, while another measure to revive the economy also stalled in the Senate apportions $13.5 billion toward road, bridge, mass transit, and other construction projects out of a total of $100 billion.
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GAO Studies Impact of Federal Highway-Funding Requirements
General Accounting Office Reports (12/08)
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently performed a study to learn how well states manage the limited amount of money they have on hand for compliance with federal highway-funding requirements: the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirement, the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program, and the Buy America program. The GAO's review of 30 studies found that several of them describe the benefits of environmental requirements, but there were none that attempted to quantify the benefits. While some quantified some kinds of environmental costs, such as NEPA administration costs, and some attempted to quantify the costs and benefits of the Davis-Bacon requirement in a non-transportation-specific way, the states do not generally track quantitative information on environmental benefits and costs. The GAO also surveyed the transportation departments of all 50 states and the District of Columbia and found that 39 of the 51 reported that in the past 10 years federal requirements had influenced their decision to use nonfederal funds for highway projects that were eligible for federal aid. In some cases, they used non-federal funds for certain projects to avoid project delays or costs associated with the federal requirements or because of other factors, such as requirements imposed by a state legislature. Some of the challenges states noted included extensive paperwork and the difficulty of coordinating between different state agencies, as well as the possibility that some requirements are outdated. For example, the Buy America program's cost threshold for steel purchase has not been updated since 1983, and the DBE's regulatory personal net worth ceiling has not been updated since 1999. Based on its study, the GAO recommends that the U.S. Department of Transportation reevaluate the Buy American threshold and DBE personal net ceiling and make amendments if necessary.
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BIM Familiarity Breeds Enthusiasm
Engineering News-Record (11/26/08) Post, Nadine M.
In a joint presentation at BuildBoston about their office fit-up for Autodesk Inc.'s East Coast headquarters, John Tocci of Tocci Building Cos. and Scott Simpson of Kling Stubbins described the stages of BIM they have identified in their work so far. The names of the first two stages—"lonely" BIM, wherein a company starts tooling up for BIM projects, and "social" BIM, wherein companies collaborate together via BIM—were previously coined by Tocci, and he and Simpson have now added two more: "intimate" BIM, wherein owner, architect, and contractor contractually share the risk and reward, and, jokingly, "cheruBIM," wherein work is "heavenly." The fast-tracked Autodesk job was the first intimate-BIM job for Tocci and Simpson, they say, with Tocci commenting, "This is the most exciting project from a relational standpoint we've ever been involved in." Tocci, who also chairs the Associated General Contractors BIM Forum, says the story goes beyond BIM itself to encompass better architecture at a faster pace and lower cost, with the ability to unite the fragmented and litigious construction industry. Some companies feel the change is not going fast enough. "Everyone is gung ho on BIM, but not in practice," says Erleen Hatfield of Thornton-Tomasetti, which still receives most of its projects in 2D even though it was an early BIM adopter. Still, a recent survey of structural engineers found that 52 percent of respondents said their firms have BIM software, and another recent survey found that 35 percent of respondents were using BIM for at least three out of five projects. Industry groups have also gotten into the action of helping along BIM adoption, with ConsensusDOCS and the American Institute of Architects having already produced model BIM contract documents. The insurance and legal communities are working out the issues their industries will face with BIM adoption as well.
Los Angeles Can Start Spending $210 Million to Cut Traffic, Improve Transit and Protect the Environment
U.S. Department of Transportation (12/11/08)
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has authorized the release of $210 million in federal funding to help reduce traffic congestion and improve bus transit in the Los Angeles area. The funding will be used to convert existing HOV lanes to HOT lanes and implement congestion pricing as well as to finance new bus service and improve park-and-ride facilities. "Los Angeles' willingness to try something new will mean less traffic, better transit and a cleaner environment," says Transportation Secretary Mary Peters. "HOT lanes benefit commuters whether they are taking transit or driving. Transit riders benefit from both quicker commutes and increased transit investments from pricing revenues." DOT has also entered into partnerships with Chicago, Miami, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Atlanta and Seattle to implement innovative strategies designed to reduce congestion in and around those cities.
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U.S. Department of Transportation Signs I-95 Corridor of the Future Development Agreement to Relieve Congestion
Federal Highway Administration Release (12/09/08)
The Federal Highway Administration has signed an agreement with the I-95 Corridor Coalition designed to promote the use of innovative technologies to relieve congestion and improve safety along I-95 from Maine to Florida. "We are using a comprehensive approach across state boundaries to bring real-time traffic information, expedited incident clearance procedures, and integrated intercity transit service that will reduce congestion and improve mobility along this critical corridor," says Federal Highway Administrator Tom Madison. The I-95 Corridor Coalition estimates a 70 percent increase in traffic along I-95 by 2040. In addition to reducing the congestion such an increase in traffic will cause, the agreement calls for the pursuit of greater fuel efficiency and use of alternative fuels.
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Secretary Bodman Provides Report on the Need for a Second Repository for Spent Nuclear Fuel
U.S. Department of Energy (12/09/08)
U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman has released a report about the need for a second repository for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) in the United States. "Unless Congress raises or eliminates the current statutory capacity limit of 70,000 metric tons of heavy metal (MTHM), a second repository will be needed," said Bodman. "The statutory limit is not based on any technical considerations, and the repository layout at Yucca Mountain can be expanded to accommodate three times the amount of fuel allowed under the current arbitrary cap." The Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) of 1982 established a process for the siting, construction, and operation of repositories for permanent disposal of SNF and HLW. After the Department of Energy conducted studies of nine potential sites around the country in 1987, Congress amended NWPA and chose the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada as the only site for further study for the first repository. NWPA currently sets a statutory capacity limit of 70,000 MTHM for the first repository, until a second repository is operational. The inventories of commercial and government SNF and HLW in the United States are currently projected to exceed 70,000 MTHM by 2010. If all existing operating commercial nuclear reactors in the country request license extensions from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate for 60 years, the amount of SNF from these reactors requiring disposal will be approximately 130,000 MTHM.
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City of the Future
Economist (12/04/08)
The heavily suburbanized Sunbelt city of Mesa, Ariz., is getting a rare opportunity to create a downtown out of nothing thanks to its annexation of five square miles of desert to build an urban center. Mesa boomed for years with strip malls and tract houses dominating the scene, but at a time of economic downturn and a rise in foreclosure, the city is looking to remake itself in a way that will attract and retain residents. The new urban center will be built by a single developer, DMB, which will provide a test case for modern urban design drawing on principles from far in the past as well as those of the future. Looking toward the future, Mesa is looking to center itself around its Gateway airport in hopes of becoming an "aerotropolis," or a city linked to air traffic as cities in the 19th century were linked to railroads. The historically-oriented part of the plan will focus on mixed-use development and scalability that could allow a warehouse, for example, to potentially become an apartment building, as well as putting things close enough together for people to be able to reach a variety of destinations by walking. There will also be plenty of neighborhood parks and the downtown will depart somewhat from the compass-rose grid of most western cities, instead taking some cue from older cities as well as seeking a better orientation for catching solar rays.
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Copper Thieves Threaten U.S. Infrastructure, FBI Says
Wired (12/08) Kravets, David
A new report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reveals how copper thieves network to mine copper from "critical" U.S. infrastructure. The report details how bandits work as "organized groups" to pilfer copper from electrical substations, telephone land lines, cellular towers, railroads, and crops. Copper theft has also undermined operations of critical infrastructure. According to the report, five tornado warning sirens in Jackson, Miss., failed to sound before an April tornado hit "because copper thieves had stripped the sirens of copper wiring, thus rendering them inoperable." In another incident, copper thieves left 4,000 power customers in Polk County, Fla., in the dark after stripping copper from an active transformer. Fueling copper theft, the report explains, are soaring prices for the metal, which has risen almost 500 percent over the last seven years.
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Neighborhood Nukes
Forbes (11/24/08) Vol. 182, No. 11, P. 107; Schoenberger, Chana R.
Nuclear plant builders are downsizing new plants and retrofitting them with state-of-the-art technology that allows them to run more efficiently. For the last 10 years, Toshiba researchers have been perfecting a small machine called 4S that can generate anywhere from 10 to 50 Mw of power, or enough to meet the energy needs of a remote town. The 4S draws heat from uranium, enabling it to produce steam nearly twice as hot as the steam produced by a standard water-cooled reactor. Even more impressive is that the 4S can operate 30 years without refueling, a vast improvement from a typical reactor that has to be refueled every 18 months. Also, because they are buried deep underground, mininukes are less susceptible to airplane terrorism or earthquakes. These and other design improvements may persuade regulators and environmentalists to warm up to the concept of smaller nukes. A handful of U.S. firms are developing small-reactor designs. Oregon State University has commissioned its NuScale Power company to build 45 Mw water-cooled reactors. Hyperion Power Generation is also developing miniature reactor designs at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
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Alt Energy Eyes Push From D.C.
Investor's Business Daily (12/10/08) P. A4; Howell, Donna
President-elect Barack Obama's vision of a thriving alternative fueled infrastructure is expected to give fresh momentum to the green movement and the capital-raising efforts of the alternative power industry. Though revenue and stock capitalization in the green sector has dried up in the wake of the global economic downturn, credit crunch, and falling oil prices, industry analysts say Obama's enthusiasm for the development of infrastructure to support better power grid efficiency and other energy efficient projects should bode well for the market. Julia Hamm of the Solar Electric Power Association says utility-owned solar-generation projects will likely become more prominent as utilities work out a plan over the next few months on how to maximize tax subsidies and credits for energy technologies they adopt. Additional energy tax credits may be introduced in the near term because measures that promote energy efficiency and distribution of renewable energy are able to create new jobs in short order. "It's pretty clear [Obama's] first priority is going to be overall economic stimulus and investing a lot of money in the economy," says Lux Research analyst Michael Holman. "Funding some big infrastructure projects is one of the first things he'll take a hard look at." The President-elect alluded to his plans to advance his green agenda after he takes office in a recent radio address in which he pledged to "launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient."
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American Rivers: Governors and Obama Should Make Water Infrastructure a Top Economic Stimulus Priority
Waterchat.com (12/02/08)
American Rivers has urged President-elect Obama and the National Governors Association to prioritize water infrastructure investment as they plan for recessionary economic-stimulus packages. "If the economic stimulus plan doesn't include significant investments in green solutions for our water infrastructure needs, a once-in-a-century opportunity will be lost," says American Rivers' Betsy Otto. Outdated water and sewer systems, deteriorating levees, and the threats of climate change are all making clean water a highly relevant issue, with the American Society of Civil Engineers having recently given a "D" grade to U.S. dams and a "D-" to wastewater and drinking-water systems. The National Governors Association's decision to include drinking water systems, flood control, and water reclamation investments among its stimulus recommendations is lauded by American Rivers, although the $15.2 billion in proposed investments is dwarfed by the $277 billion or more the U.S. Environmental Protection agency estimates fixing the U.S. water infrastructure would cost. American Rivers also called for green infrastructure investments to help supply clean water, reduce polluted runoff, stop sewer overflows, and minimize flooding and thus enhance community safety. "We need to invest more in water infrastructure, but we need to invest more wisely, too," says Otto. "Making significant, strategic green investments in our water infrastructure will save money, create good jobs, and give our country a head start on an important new sector of the economy." The three core principles for water infrastructure spending, according to American Rivers, are "nature works best," "don't waste money," and "enhance community safety and security."
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Studies Suggest More Gains for Green Building in 2009
CoStar Group (12/05/08) Burr, Andrew C.
In November, the results of more than 10 surveys and reports exploring an array of topics such as worker productivity in green buildings, cost premiums and perceptions of the business case for going green were released. Such new data has been in demand lately as building stakeholders attempt to gauge how the credit crunch and a full year of recession have affected green construction. Almost universally, the research points to another good year in 2009. The "Green Building Impact Report 2008" from Greener World Media, which quantifies the overall effects of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certificaiton on industry and the environment, determined that companies in LEED buildings have realized annual employee productivity gains exceeding $170 million as a result of improved indoor environmental quality--a figure that is projected to jump into the billions by 2015 as the number of employees in LEED buildings grows more than tenfold. The report further predicts an overall "flattening" of the rate of LEED growth as it begins to saturate markets nationwide, but continued expansion in the amount of floor area that is certified. Other research chronicles how the downturn in construction will affect green building development in the months to come. McGraw Hill's "2009 Green Outlook" study, for instance, said green building seems to be insulated from the recession and is growing "in spite of the market downturn." Meanwhile, at a recent Ernst & Young roundtable of construction company executives, a whopping 99 percent of survey respondents said interest in green development would increase in 2009 or at least remain the same as it is this year. Eighty percent of respondents in a recent poll by the Building Owners and Management Association (BOMA) International and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) said that energy efficiency measures have defrayed costs, and 65 percent said their green investments have generated a positive return on investment. Finally, almost 70 percent of corporate real estate executives described sustainability as a "critical business issue" in a joint survey by CoreNet Global and Jones Lang LaSalle, which is up nearly 20 points from 2007.
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Man-made Chemicals Found in Drinking Water at Low Levels
U.S. Geological Survey (12/05/2008)
A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study of water from nine selected rivers that serve as public water system sources found that there are low levels of certain man-made chemicals in the water supply after treatment at selected facilities. "Most of the man-made chemicals assessed in the USGS study are unregulated in drinking water and not required to be monitored or removed," says Tom Jacobus, General Manager of the Washington Aqueduct. "These findings are not surprising and they will be important in helping regulators and assisting water utility managers arrive at decisions about future water treatment processes." Low levels of about 130 man-made chemicals were detected in streams and rivers before treatment at the public water facilities, and nearly two-thirds were still detected after treatment. "Low level detection does not necessarily indicate a concern to human health, but rather indicates what types of chemicals we can expect to find in different areas of the country," says USGS lead scientist Gregory Delzer. Among the testing sites were the White River in Indiana; Elm Fork Trinity River in Texas; Potomac River in Maryland; Neuse River in North Carolina; Chattahoochee River in Georgia; Running Gutter Brook in Massachusetts; Clackamas River in Oregon; Truckee River in Nevada; and Cache La Poudre in Colorado. The full quality assessment and complete list of chemicals are available at http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/swqa.
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Contractor Develops a Fleet of Light Vehicles to Fit Its Specialized Jobs
Pacific Builder and Engineer (12/01/08) Molesworth, Carl
Cannon Construction of Milton, Wash., has found a way to address highly specialized jobs for which the right kind of vehicle is not already available, creating its own fleet of light utility vehicles. Company owner Mike Cannon first did this several years ago when he bought a golf cart and outfitted it with gear for working in manholes and pulling cable. "We did a job for General Dynamics, and their project manager saw it," Cannon says. "They put pictures of it on their website, and pretty soon they were getting calls from all over asking about it." The company now has a fleet of eight such vehicles, and after trying several brands, Cannon now uses Polaris vehicles modified by Seattle-based Allied Body Works. The small size of the vehicles makes them easier to ship by cargo container to military bases around the world. Cannon has used them, for example, in the Pacific islands of Guam and Kwajalein, and to maneuver in tight job sites. "Every base we go on, they say, 'Where'd you get that? Do you want to sell it?'" says Cannon. The latest vehicle added to the fleet is a Polaris 700 series Ranger Crew, modified to replace the back seat with two tool boxes, put a box around the battery for job-site protection, add switches for turning work lights and strobes on and off, and add a custom rear bed and roof rack. Other modifications include removable tool baskets, which crew members have found particularly useful, says Cannon, and a variety of attachment points for cable reels.
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