Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming Construction Notes

Hol Wagner -- Rocky Mountain Construction, 12/26/2007

CU To Build Visual Arts Center
Boulder, Colo. – A March construction start is planned for the new $63.5-million, 170,000-square-foot visual arts complex on the Boulder campus. Boston architects Kallmann, McKinnell and Wood collaborated with Denver-based OZ Architecture on the design, and M.A. Mortenson Co. is the general contractor. Completion is scheduled during the 2009-10 academic year.

Eastern Plains Water Pipeline Planned
Yuma, Colo. – To help the state of Colorado comply with the Republican River Compact between Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska, the Republican River Water Conservation District hopes to build a Compact Compliance Pipeline capable of delivering 15,000 acre-feet of water per year from wells located 10-20 miles north of the North Fork of the Republican River directly into the North Fork near the Colorado-Nebraska state line.

With a $50,000 grant provided by the Colorado Water Conservation Board, RRWCD will complete an engineering feasibility study of the pipeline this month and, based on results of the study, will seek a loan from the CWCB Construction Loan Program to fund the project, estimated to cost between $80 million and $100 million. RRWCD hopes to begin construction next fall with the goal of delivering water to the river in the latter part of 2009.

Ground Broken For Cutter Lateral Water Project
Gallup, N.M. – Despite the fact that Congress has not yet approved the Navajo Nation’s claims to water rights in the San Juan River Basin and the fact that the final environmental impact statement has not been issued for the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, ground was formally broken Dec. 13 on phases 2 and 4 of the Cutter Lateral component of the project.

The Cutter Lateral is part of the Eastern Navajo Regional Water Project, itself a component of the Navajo Nation-New Mexico water rights settlement and the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project. The $15.3-million product of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s "Year of Water" is designed to bring San Juan River water to the eastern part of the Navajo Nation, the southwestern part of the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the city of Gallup.

"This is state money that’s going to fund this," said Kate Nelson of New Mexico Lt. Gov. Diane Denish’s office. "2007 was the Year of Water. There was a lot of progress made in passing some new laws on the regulation of water and some state money put into water infrastructure projects. This is one of the biggest ones, $15.3 million. It’s an example of the state stepping up where the federal government really ought to be."

Though the Cutter Lateral is not the Bureau of Reclamation’s preferred alternative, it is listed as an alternative in the draft EIS on the overall project. According to Navajo Nation Vice President Benny Shelly, the two phases of the lateral going under construction "will inter-connect several of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority’s public water systems to provide immediate short-term relief to water-starved systems. It will bring the dream of regionalizing these systems and connecting them with the San Juan River at Cutter Reservoir. And it will continue the progress we have already made on the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project."

New Mexico Air Bases Allotted $141 Million
Las Cruces, N.M. – Under the omnibus spending agreement worked out by Congress, two New Mexico Air Force bases and the White Sands Missile Range will receive $141 million for building projects in fiscal 2008. White Sands Missile Range near Las Cruces is to get $71 million as part of the Army’s "Grow the Force" initiative, while Kirtland Air Force Base near Albuquerque is to receive $59.6 million for building projects, including $42.7 million to facilitate moving a space vehicles facility to Kirtland from Hanscom AFB in Massachusetts. Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis is to receive $10.78 million for construction and renovation of hangars and flight simulators.

UDOT To Complete Many Projects In 2008
Salt Lake City – Officials of the Utah Department of Transportation say 2008 may be one of the busiest ever for road construction in several northern Utah counties. About $1.2 billion in transportation growth projects are expected to be completed during the year in Box Elder, Cache, Davis, Morgan and Weber counties. Topping the list is the $685-million South Davis segment of the Legacy Parkway. Construction of the 14-mile, four-lane parkway began in March 2006 after years of legal delays, and full construction got underway this year. When the parkway is completed next fall it is expected to take considerable commuter traffic off of congested Interstate 15.

Williams Scotsman Acquires Utah Competitor
Riverton, Utah – Baltimore-based Williams Scotsman Inc, nationwide supplier of mobile buildings frequently used as offices on construction sites, has acquired the mobile office inventory of one of its Utah competitors, South Valley Leasing of Riverton. Though terms of the deal were not disclosed, it involves roughly 225 mobile office and commercial units and increases Williams Scotsman’s Utah inventory by approximately 40 percent, according to Rick Delvin, a regional vice president of the company.

"This acquisition will help us better serve our customers," Delvin said, adding, "It also will strengthen our ability to meet increasing needs for construction trailers and mobile offices throughout the state and surrounding region."

South Valley Leasing was an arm of Advance Modular Manufacturing, Riverton company that manufactured the mobile office trailers. The manufacturer now has enough outside suppliers purchasing its buildings that it no longer needed a leasing affiliate of its own. "Even though that business was growing, it just no longer fit into our plans," explained Ron Larson, owner of Advance Modular.

High-Rise Towers In Sandy, Utah?
Sandy, Utah – Salt Lake City, Utah’s capital, not unexpectedly has the tallest buildings in the state in its downtown area, but that may not be the case five years from now. Developer Utah Pacific Holdings has purchased land at the southern end of the Salt Lake Valley, near the Sandy city hall, where it hopes to erect two buildings that could stand nearly 30 stories tall, making them the tallest in the state.

Utah Pacific has not finalized plans for the buildings and is currently attempting to secure financing for the project on a site that 15 years ago was nothing but a large field. "It is a very exciting project," said Utah Pacific spokeswoman Sharon Cook. "The thought of being able to bring something of this caliber — the metropolitan feel to the area — would be completely unique."

Coal-to-Liquids Plant Plans Progressing
Medicine Bow, Wyo. – Plans for constructing a $2-billion coal-to-liquids plant near the tiny community of Medicine Bow in Carbon County, Wyo., continue to advance. Despite concerns about housing and infrastructure, the Wyoming Industrial Siting Council recently issued a permit to construct the plant. This is just one of several needed permits, but it is considered one of the most important. DKRW Advanced Fuels, the Houston-based company that will build and operate the Medicine Bow Fuel & Power Project, has executed a license agreement with ExxonMobil to use ExxonMobil’s proprietary methanol-to-gasoline technology in the plant.

DKRW also has a site license agreement and master site license agreement to use the Rentech technology to produce Fischer-Tropsch products from coal, including diesel fuel, at the Medicine Bow plant. DKRW officials say they will employ up to 2,300 workers during peak construction of the plant in 2011-2012. The plant is to produce liquid transport fuels when it comes on line in 2013, with an initial production capacity of 15,000 to 20,000 barrels per day of gasoline.