Construction of a contested portion of the $10 billion SunZia renewable energy transmission line in Arizona has been cleared to proceed by a federal judge. The lawsuit brought by Native American tribes, archeologists and environmentalists was deemed too late for a project that was approved in 2015 after the Bureau of Land Management had already taken into account historic and cultural concerns.

Construction is expected to last about two more years on a $1.4 billion project to expand Loop 1604 near San Antonio, Texas. The project will add six lanes to the existing four and introduce a stacked highway system at the Interstate 10 interchange, all in a bid to smooth traffic at what is considered one of the most congested corridors in Texas.

Missouri's $2.8 billion project to add a third lane to Interstate 70 across the state has begun, with crews carrying out subsurface boring near Columbia. The boring serves to gather soil samples to help formulate decisions on designs and materials.

The first concrete girder for a wildlife crossing has been installed over the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills, Calif. Current work is focused on the southbound side of the highway, and afterward, construction will turn to the northbound side.

Hotel openings this year are on track to grow 1.4% from last year, according to Lodging Econometrics, and demand is growing, a conclusion confirmed by Bill Wilhelm, president of R.D. Olson Construction. In an interview, Wilhelm, whose company is currently working on a 12-building resort in Healdsburg, Calif., says he's seeing increasing demand for hotels, although the resort portion of the market may lag, particularly in California's wine country where resort hotels are already plentiful.

Inflation is likely to take longer than expected to decline to the Federal Reserve's 2% target, Chair Jerome Powell says. "We've said at the [Federal Open Market Committee] that we'll need greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably towards 2% before it would be appropriate to ease policy," Powell says. "The recent [inflation] data have clearly not given us greater confidence and instead indicate that it's likely to take longer than expected to achieve that confidence."

The $672 million invested in construction technology in the first quarter represented a jump of 20% from a year before, when funding entered a slump, according to a report by Cemex Ventures. North America accounted for 80% of the investment flow, although globally the number of deals fell 4%, suggesting strategies or market dynamics may be changing.

Adopting new technology in the field of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration requires careful consideration that should begin with identifying the problems to be solved. Lillie Ross reviews this and other key considerations, including employee buy-in, and in particular addresses the roles that artificial intelligence can play with its many functionalities.

Flexibility and adaptability are paramount factors for construction in the rapidly evolving health care sector, says Christina Champness, the youngest project executive in New York City office of Lendlease. In this interview, Champness reflects on her career path and the allure of construction as well as the challenges and satisfactions of working in her health care specialty.

Steel was the focus for President Joe Biden on a visit to Pittsburgh where he promised to place tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum and bar a proposed Japanese takeover of US Steel. "American-owned, American-operated by American union steelworkers -- the best in the world -- and that's going to happen, I promise you," Biden told a crowd of union steelworkers.

The Master Subcontract agreement provides the general terms and conditions between a Constructor (AKA general contractor, design-builder, construction manager) and a Subcontractor. This subcontract document coordinates with the ConsensusDocs 756 ConsensusDocs Standard Project Work Order Agreement. Get a sample of the 755 agreement and 756 work order today.

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