WRAL-TV (Raleigh, N.C.) – Seventy highway and bridge projects across North Carolina will begin in the next few months after the state obtained $466 million in federal economic stimulus funds, Gov. Beverly Perdue said. [read more…]

WTHI-TV 10 (Terre Haute, Ind.) – If you look around Terre Haute, lots of projects seem shovel ready; infrastructure projects, bridges and roads that just need manpower and funding to be completed.

But getting stimulus money here is more complicated.

Only two projects in the city of Terre Haute are shovel ready: The Brown Boulevard extensions. Phase one extends Brown Avenue from Locust up to Maple. Phase two extends Brown Avenue from Locust down to Wabash.

Mayor Bennett said the stimulus bill is full of restrictions, so not many projects qualify as shovel ready. [read more…]

The Dallas Morning News – Thanks to the federal stimulus package, the state budget deficit is all but erased and the Texas economy will see a quick injection of up to $70 billion. But oversight needs to be slammed into place quickly as the money begins flying, state lawmakers said Thursday.

A special committee looking at the stimulus money began peeling away the numbers and recognizing the usually glacial pace of government has been shot into a speed boat, so lawmakers need to react quickly to guarantee that the funding is well-spent. [read more…]

Google/The Associated Press – Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he wants to consider taxing motorists based on how many miles they drive rather than how much gasoline they burn — an idea that has angered drivers in some states where it has been proposed.

Gasoline taxes that for nearly half a century have paid for the federal share of highway and bridge construction can no longer be counted on to raise enough money to keep the nation’s transportation system moving, LaHood said in an interview with The Associated Press. [read more…]

The Salt Lake Tribune (Utah) – If you think by diving into renewable energy — wind, solar, geothermal — Utah’s trust-lands managers are pursuing a green agenda, you’re right.

But if you think some idealistic environmental vision is driving that push, think again.

The green motivating the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration is money.

SITLA estimates that renewable- and alternative-energy projects could generate millions for the school trust within five years. [read more…]

The Times-Picayune (New Orleans) – Regional levee commissioners said Thursday that they fear that the Army Corps of Engineers is running into money problems in its efforts to build better flood protection by 2011 and that to cut costs, the corps might recommend what the commissioners consider to be unacceptable projects.

Two examples they cited are floodgates that would be closed across Causeway Boulevard in Metairie and Interstate 10 in eastern New Orleans to protect against storm surges, instead of more expensive and potentially more effective forms of protection. [read more…]

The Rapid City Journal (S.D.)/Butte County Post (S.D.) – In the next two years, as many as 2,000 crude oil pipeline workers and their families could move into northwestern South Dakota as they install the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline, project officials told Butte County commissioners Wednesday.

The about 2,000-mile pipeline’s total cost is estimated at $7 billion. The pipeline, when finished, could ship 750,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Regional representative Jeff Rauh said Wednesday this project’s investment for South Dakota would be about $750 million.

Workers would install a buried, 36-inch-diameter steel pipeline. When finished, the crude-oil pipeline, from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf Coast refineries, could be the longest in North America. It would link to existing pipeline in Kansas. [read more…]

Associated Construction Publications/Midwest Contractor – By mid-2011, the more than 100,000 motorists who now cross Kansas City’s 55-year-old Paseo Bridge each day will travel in style over the first cable-stayed vehicle bridge ever constructed across the Missouri River. The landmark Christopher S. Bond Bridge is the centerpiece of the Missouri Department of Transportation’s (MoDOT) $245-million Interstate 29/35 Connections (kcICON) project, now under way near the northeast corner of downtown Kansas City.

The two-span bridge will feature a single reinforced concrete, delta-shaped pylon that rises 316 feet above the river level, and 40 cables radiating in a semi-fan pattern from the pylon. Offering a 550-foot main span and a back span of 451 feet, the 124-foot-wide bridge will initially open with three traffic lanes in each direction, but will be expandable to eight lanes of traffic in the future. The bridge design is also capable of accommodating a future pedestrian/bicycle path along the outside of the southbound lanes once connectivity is established both north and south of the river. [read more…]

The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville) – Having less water in Florida could lead to building some really big water lines.

Central Florida utility managers have begun circulating long-term proposals to lay hundreds of miles of interconnected pipelines that could cross nine counties to satisfy growing demand for drinkable water. [read more…]