Visit Roadbuilding at Journal of Commerce

Roadbuilding

August 19, 2008

GO Transit corridor gets quick upgrade thanks to pre-assembled bridge section

The Credit River Bridge along the GO Transit Lakeshore West corridor was widened recently to improve rush-hour service.

August 19, 2008

Iowa worker dies after being struck by crane’s counter-weight

Authorities say a construction worker has died after he was struck by a crane near a bridge project along Interstate 80 in western Iowa.

August 14, 2008

Saskatoon moves closer to completing Circle Drive

The federal and provincial governments are planning to make a multi-million dollar investment to improve the flow of traffic in Saskatoon by building a new bridge over the South Saskatchewan River.

August 14, 2008

MTO partners with roadbuilders to conduct pre-tender ‘constructability’ reviews

In conjunction with the province’s roadbuilding industry, Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation is undertaking a pilot project that includes external “constructability” reviews of projects prior to tender.

August 13, 2008

Canadians for Reconciliation lobbies for protection of Chinese gravesites in Fraser Canyon

A Chinese-Canadian group is lobbying the British Columbia government to protect burial sites in much the same way that aboriginal burial grounds are preserved.

August 13, 2008

Aecon wins $105-million contract for Highway 401 near Woodstock

Aecon Group Inc. has been awarded a $105-million contract to reconstruct and widen a 15-kilometre stretch of Highway 401 just east of Woodstock, Ont.

August 13, 2008

First phase of Highway 7 widening near Ottawa complete

The first phase of construction to widen Highway 7 from two to four lanes, between Highway 417 and Jinkinson Road in Ottawa, was recently completed as planned and opened to traffic.

August 13, 2008

Eleven New Brunswick communities receive gas-tax revenues for infrastructure projects

Eleven municipalities in New Brunswick will soon begin making essential improvements to local infrastructure, after receiving their first payments under two gas-tax sharing agreements.

August 13, 2008

Municipality of Alleyn-et-Cawood receives $230,000 from gax-tax revenue program

The Municipality of Alleyn-et-Cawood, Quebec will receive a total of $230,227 by the end of 2009 for important infrastructure projects under the federal-provincial agreement on the transfer of a portion of federal gasoline tax revenues.

August 12, 2008

Building Canada fund invests $100 million in TransCanada highway twinning

Drivers travelling on the Trans-Canada Highway through Banff National Park can count on a safer and more efficient drive thanks to a recent $100 million federal investment.

August 11, 2008

Grascan goes the extra mile on Dundas Street bridge project

Work is progressing on the new Dundas Street Bridge over Sixteen Mile Creek in Oakville, Ont.

August 11, 2008

U.S. bridge report offers warnings that Ontario should heed, association says

The province of Ontario should look at the findings of a recent study on the challenges facing American bridges, says Andy Manahan, executive director of the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario.

August 11, 2008

Road crews work ’round the clock to clear Sea-to-Sky Highway ahead of schedule

British Columbia’s Sea-to-Sky Highway reopened ahead of schedule, after clean-up crews worked around the clock to clear debris and get traffic moving.

August 8, 2008

TransLink plans to replace aging Pattullo Bridge with new toll bridge

The aging Pattullo Bridge between Surrey and New Westminster, British Columbia, will be replaced with a new toll bridge and it could happen sooner than expected.

August 7, 2008

Bilfinger Berger Canada sues Metro Vancouver over Capilano-Seymour tunnel project

The German company hired to construct twin tunnels for a water filtration project in North Vancouver is launching a lawsuit against Metro Vancouver and placing a lien against the project.

August 7, 2008

VIA plans to invest $25 million to modernize Ottawa-Montreal railway infrastructure

VIA Rail Canada has announced it plans to invest more than $25 million on a multi-phase, multi-year program to modernize key parts of its rail infrastructure between Ottawa and Montréal.

August 6, 2008

BCITA decision to split ironworker trade into three sections meets opposition

The British Columbia Industry Training Authority (BCITA) is in the process of updating the ironworkers trade certification by making the designation more specialized, but some people in the industry believe the changes will harm the trade.

August 6, 2008

Accidents prompt meeting of British Columbia’s construction-crane industry

Representatives of British Columbia’s construction-crane industry will be meeting with WorksafeBC in September to discuss safety procedures.

August 6, 2008

Texas worker dies as crane working over Colorado River topples

Officials in Texas say a crane removing steel girders from an aging bridge over the Colorado River became overloaded and toppled, killing one worker and injuring another.

August 6, 2008

Top U.S. transportation official calls federal funding approach “broken”

The top transportation official in the U.S. said the federal approach to funding is “broken” and presented a plan last week that seeks to cut the time it takes to carry out new highway and transit projects.

August 5, 2008

Missing out on major highway jobs not a concern for SNC-Lavalin, CEO says

Global engineering powerhouse SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. said it’s not embarrassed to have lost large highway construction projects in its backyard to foreign competitors.

August 1, 2008

Monte Creek-to-Pritchard section of TransCanada highway earns an upgrade

The governments of Canada and British Columbia have announced $42.8 million in funding for a highway project near Kamloops under the Building Canada infrastructure plan.

August 1, 2008

Carpenters’ union says exclusive agreement will benefit City of Hamilton

An agreement between the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBCJA) and the City of Hamilton gives the union exclusive rights to the city’s residential and heavy construction work.

August 1, 2008

TransAlta plans new dyke wall for lagoon at Keephills power plant

A dyke wall holding back a pond full of ash slurry from TransAlta Corp.’s coal-fired Keephills power plant is in danger of breaching, so tompany will build a second dyke wall to redirect slurry into another lagoon on site.

July 31, 2008

Hamilton’s new Ferguson Avenue Bridge opens

The newly constructed $4.6 million Ferguson Avenue Bridge in Hamilton has opened for business.

July 31, 2008

200-ton tunnel boring machine completes Manhattan rail tubes

A huge, granite-eating machine that spent the past eight months chewing a mile (1.6 kilometre)-long tunnel beneath a busy Manhattan office district is getting a rest, of sorts, after completing its journey to the city’s Grand Central Terminal train station.

July 30, 2008

Manitoba boy, 15, dies after being buried under hot asphalt

A 15-year-old working on a construction site just north of Winnipeg has died after being buried in hot asphalt.

July 29, 2008

Year-over-year employment levels decline in U.S. heavy construction sector

The total number of highway and bridge construction workers in the United States fell by 2.4 per cent in May 2008, compared with the same month the year before, reports the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).

July 28, 2008

Lack of training blamed in B.C. crane death

Scathing reports into the death of a 22-year-old crane operator blame a lack of training, among other factors, for contributing to the young man’s death, but recommend a fine rather than criminal charges.

July 28, 2008

Canadian experts band together to better analyze core infrastructure

Infrastructure Canada and the National Research Council-Institute for Research in Construction has partnered with Engineers Canada, representing the National Round Table on Sustainable Infrastructure, to better analyze core infrastructure.

July 28, 2008

Quarry developer Birch Mountain Resources puts itself up for sale

Birch Mountain Resources Ltd., a Calgary-based quarry developer and limestone and sand and gravel producer, says it is seeking an immediate sale of the company, which has defaulted on its loan agreement with its main banker.

July 25, 2008

Construction workers end up in Lake Michigan as Horseshoe Casino walkway collapses

An enclosed walkway slipped as it was being attached to a floating casino on Lake Michigan, sending seven construction workers into the water.

July 25, 2008

Crane operated by Vancouver Pile Driving topples during lift

A crane tipped over and dangled above several lanes of traffic on Highway 1 in Surrey, B.C. just east of the Port Mann Bridge at about 7:30 a.m. on July 22.

July 24, 2008

Ontario construction industry welcomes $6.2-billion commitment to infrastructure

A $6.2-billion investment in Ontario’s infrastructure through a federal-provincial agreement means plenty of work will be on deck for the construction industry, say industry officials.

July 24, 2008

Dykon Blasting reduces stands at Ottawa’s Frank Clair Stadium to rubble

A quick succession of explosions on a quiet Sunday morning was all it took to reduce an entire section of stands in a football stadium to about 5,000 tonnes of broken concrete rubble.

July 23, 2008

Potential for reduced highway funding scuttles summer gas-tax holiday

The political vision of a summer gas tax holiday died a quick death in Congress, losing to a view that federal excise taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel will have to go up if they go anywhere.

July 23, 2008

Aecon Construction takes on Highway 10 widening through Caledon Village

The Ontario government has awarded a $7.9-million construction contract to widen Highway 10 through Caledon Village to Aecon Construction and Materials Limited of Toronto.

July 23, 2008

Report says asbestos in some Calgary roads poses risk to public health

An Alberta researcher who studies asbestos says that Calgary roadways containing the substance pose a risk to the public.

July 23, 2008

Upcoming rapid bridge replacement sure to draw crowds to Ottawa

Mammoet Canada Eastern Ltd. will remove two spans over Clyde Avenue and replace them with spans four lanes wide. The work will begin in the evening on August 2, 2008, and the bridge is expected to be open for traffic by around noon the next day, August 3.

July 23, 2008

Armtec buys Burnco in $50 million deal

Armtec Infrastructure Income Fund, a southwestern Ontario-based maker of sewer pipe and bridge components, says it has struck a deal to acquire Alberta-focused Burnco Concrete Products Ltd. for $50 milliion.

July 22, 2008

McNally and Aecon work to extract tunnel boring machine trapped under Langstaff Road

McNally Construction and Aecon Group, working as a joint venture, have begun preparations to remove the $5-million tunnel boring machine that has been trapped under Langstaff Road since May 2, 2008. Approximately 1,000 cubic metres of soil collapsed on the machine during construction of a portion of the York-Durham Sewer System project.

July 22, 2008

Slumping U.S. economy blamed for layoffs at Sterling’s St. Thomas truck plant

Sterling Trucks is eliminating one of its two remaining shifts and laying off another 720 workers as of November 2008 as the southwestern Ontario manufacturer joins the growing ranks of companies being squeezed by an economic slowdown in the U.S.

July 22, 2008

BMW Canada hosts groundbreaking ceremony for new Richmond Hill headquarters

BMW Group Canada is relocating its corporate headquarters from Whitby to a custom-built green facility at the intersection of Highway 404 and Major Mackenzie Drive in Richmond Hill.

July 22, 2008

Rubber touted as new tool for seismic upgrades to buildings

Vancouver’s heritage city hall isn’t the only structure that is under consideration for an innovative seismic retrofit that essentially uses disc-shaped, rubber shock absorbers to isolate the effects of an earthquake.