Even though a big bubble of highway/heavy projects is working its way through the pipeline, thanks to the federal stimulus funding for infrastructure, evidence suggests that the bidding environment for public jobs is plenty competitive now.

I’m seeing this repeatedly when I compare project estimates to low bids on jobs reported in the Project News sections of my magazines, and I’m hearing about it anecdotally from contractors. But the most dramatic example I’ve seen came to light last week in Seattle when Sound Transit opened two bids for the largest contract on the University Link light rail extension. The apparent low bidder to dig twin tunnels from the University of Washington to C...Read More

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Even though a big bubble of highway/heavy projects is working its way through the pipeline, thanks to the federal stimulus funding for infrastructure, evidence suggests that the bidding environment for public jobs is plenty competitive now.

I’m seeing this repeatedly when I compare project estimates to low bids on jobs reported in the Project News sections of my magazines, and I’m hearing about it anecdotally from contractors. But the most dramatic example I’ve seen came to light last week in Seattle when Sound Transit opened two bids for the largest contract on the University Link light rail extension. The apparent low bidder to dig twin tunnels from the University of Washington to C...Read More

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I was tempted to title this entry “Easy Come, Easy Go.” But in politics, nothing is easy when money is involved.

The Colorado Legislature is proving this point in its current session. As I reported earlier this month, the lawmakers already have passed FASTER, which will generate about $250 million a year to fix bridges in the state. Now, however, those same lawmakers are considering SB 228, a bill that has the potential of reducing transportation funding by an average of about $170 million per year.

SB 288 would repe...Read More

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I was tempted to title this entry “Easy Come, Easy Go.” But in politics, nothing is easy when money is involved.

The Colorado Legislature is proving this point in its current session. As I reported earlier this month, the lawmakers already have passed FASTER, which will generate about $250 million a year to fix bridges in the state. Now, however, those same lawmakers are considering SB 228, a bill that has the potential of reducing transportation funding by an average of about $170 million per year.

SB 288 would repe...Read More

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Boulder, CO-based Engineers Without Borders-USA and The Boeing Co. recently teamed up in a continuing effort to help communities around the globe. EWB-USA projects help deliver alternative energy sources to light schools, medical clinics and community centers. Other projects bring clean water systems to rural locations around the world.

Boeing recently awarded EWB-USA a grant that was used to fund engineering projects and establish a Global Development Fund to drive the organization’s annual giving campaign. 

 The grant and campaign res...Read More

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Boulder, CO-based Engineers Without Borders-USA and The Boeing Co. recently teamed up in a continuing effort to help communities around the globe. EWB-USA projects help deliver alternative energy sources to light schools, medical clinics and community centers. Other projects bring clean water systems to rural locations around the world.

Boeing recently awarded EWB-USA a grant that was used to fund engineering projects and establish a Global Development Fund to drive the organization’s annual giving campaign. 

 The grant and campaign res...Read More

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With all the attention on the federal stimulus funding over the past few weeks, this story nearly slipped past me.

The Columbia River Crossing project’s six local partner agencies have selected a replacement Interstate 5 bridge with light rail to Clark College as the project’s Locally Preferred Alternative.

In a joint Op Ed story published Feb. 25 in the Vancouver Columbian and in The Oregonian, Portland Mayor Sam Adams and Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard wrote: “We must build a new bridge,” and laid out their join support for the so-called “jumbo plan,”...Read More

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With all the attention on the federal stimulus funding over the past few weeks, this story nearly slipped past me.

The Columbia River Crossing project’s six local partner agencies have selected a replacement Interstate 5 bridge with light rail to Clark College as the project’s Locally Preferred Alternative.

In a joint Op Ed story published Feb. 25 in the Vancouver Columbian and in The Oregonian, Portland Mayor Sam Adams and Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard wrote: “We must build a new bridge,” and laid out their join support for the so-called “jumbo plan,”...Read More

Comments (2)

You don’t have to be the federal government to see that investing in infrastructure can have the double benefit of improving the economy now while setting the plate for an even stronger recovery when the good times return. In the past month, Oregon and Colorado have looked to their construction industries for an economic shot in the arm, passing stimulus packages of their own.

Oregon

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed “Go Oregon!” into law Feb. 5, authorizing sale of bonds to fund capital projects at public facilities throughout the state. The one-shot st...Read More

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You don’t have to be the federal government to see that investing in infrastructure can have the double benefit of improving the economy now while setting the plate for an even stronger recovery when the good times return. In the past month, Oregon and Colorado have looked to their construction industries for an economic shot in the arm, passing stimulus packages of their own.

Oregon

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed “Go Oregon!” into law Feb. 5, authorizing sale of bonds to fund capital projects at public facilities throughout the state. The one-shot st...Read More

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Casual observers of our nation’s 49^th state might have assumed that Alaska’s two proposed “Bridges to Nowhere” projects went away after Congress pulled earmarks totaling $452 million for them from the budget in November 2005.

Not so. Alaska still got the money. And though Gov. Sarah Palin cancelled the Gravina Island Bridge at Ketchikan in 2007, the proposed Knik Arm bridge project in Anchorage was allowed to move forward. The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities released a new report this month by an independent third party estimator that pegged the estimated cost of the Knik Arm Crossing conceptual design at $686 million.

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Casual observers of our nation’s 49^th state might have assumed that Alaska’s two proposed “Bridges to Nowhere” projects went away after Congress pulled earmarks totaling $452 million for them from the budget in November 2005.

Not so. Alaska still got the money. And though Gov. Sarah Palin cancelled the Gravina Island Bridge at Ketchikan in 2007, the proposed Knik Arm bridge project in Anchorage was allowed to move forward. The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities released a new report this month by an independent third party estimator that pegged the estimated cost of the Knik Arm Crossing conceptual design at $686 million.

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