With chronic cement shortages popping up across America, the U.S. and Mexico on Jan. 19 reached an “agreement in principle” that could settle a 16-year-old dispute over cement imports. A final agreement would come at a critical time as Gulf Coast rebuilding starts.



Contractors working on the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge's eastern span pulled off a 1,700-ton mega-pick that began the evening of Feb. 7 and continued into the following morning. Local subcontractor Bigge Crane & Rigging Co. used 10 strand jacks to hoist a 200-ft-long, 85-ft-wide, 20-ft-tall steel "tub" girder off a barge and set it on temporary steel towers. Under the supervision of Kiewit-Pacific led prime contractor KFM, the 150-ft lift took 11 hours. The girder links the eastbound side of the bridge's 1.3-mile-long "skyway" with its still-unbuilt signature suspension span. A similar westbound lift is scheduled in June. Electronic controls that tie together the jacks made the delicate operation possible. "You hit 'enter' and away it goes," says Gedge Knopf, sales manager for Bigge.



Expandable New York City Plans $1.7-Billion Expansion of Convention Center New York state and city officials say they will break ground later this year for an expanded Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on the West Side of Manhattan. Under the $1.7-billion plan, the overall size of the convention center would double and ...


East Meets West China Breaks Ground on New Embassy in Washington, D.C. Groundbreaking for the Chinese Embassy’s new chancery building in Washington, D.C., was held on April 22. Simultaneous construction of new embassy complexes by China and the U. S. in each other’s capital city underscores development of ...


Pillars of Protection Site Work for New U.S. Embassy in Berlin Is Under Way By March 1, a row of concrete columns designed to provide security for the new U.S. embassy in Berlin was under construction. The estimated 13,800-sq-meter, $100-million structure designed by Santa Monica, Calif.-based Moore Ruble Yudell ...


Cleared for Take Off Japan's Newest Airport Takes Off from Man-Made Island Central Japan International Airport saw its first flights take off and land on Feb. 17. The $7.3-billion project included the creation of a 470-hectare man-made island in Ise Bay, near the central city of Nagoya. The joint public-private ...


China Building TV Tower to the Sky 2/14/2006 By Peter Reina One of China's oldest cities, Guangzhou, is reaching high by starting two record-breaking buildings, both supported by external structural steel skeletons. On one side of the city, foundation work recently began on a 610-meter-tall TV and observation tower, to be the world's loftiest. Across town, foundations for China's tallest building, at 432-m, are also under excavation. West Tower at 610 m would be taller than CN spire in Toronto. (Image courtesy of Information Based Architecture) Intended to be the Eiffel Tower of Guangdong's provincial capital for the 2010 Asian Games, the TV structure would be nearly 57 m taller than Toronto's CNN Tower, the current record holder. Sited by the Pearl River, in Tianhe district, the see-through structure will have a 160-m-tall antenna rising from the top-level open observation garden set 450-m above ground.


The Miami-based construction company placed 13,511 yards of concrete that will serve as the foundation for Trump Royale, a 55-story, $180 million oceanfront condominium that is part of the $750 million Trump Grande Ocean Resort and Residences, an 11-acre enclave that includes the 278-unit Trump Palace, and a 372-unit condo hotel. (ENR's Nov. 2003 Construction Facts Sourcebook lists a 1988 job by ...


McGraw-Hill Construction | New York City announces $700-million bioscience complex in Manhattan...
New York City is moving closer to adoption of a new, streamlined and more user-friendly building code with the recent transmission to the city council, for eventual adoption into law, of plumbing and administrative codes. The new code is expected to be adopted in summer 2006 and is based on the "International" family of codes developed by the ...

Investigators who studied Florida storm shelters battered by last year’s hurricanes are reporting mostly good news. But they still have no answers about the most spectacular shelter damage of all, the failure of a newly built shelter in Arcadia from Hurricane Charley’s heavy winds.

Engineers in London are completing preliminary design for what will be Europe’s tallest building. Depending on market conditions, London Bridge Tower could be up to its full height, just under 310 m, by 2009. If so, it will outstrip Frankfurt’s Commerzbank building by about 20 m.