The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority hopes to complete right-of-way acquisition in 2019 for a five-mile extension of the Gilcrease Expressway, with a goal of completing the project by 2022. The work is estimated to cost between $330 million and $340 million, and tolls would be used to pay back a federal loan for construction.
The 18-mile Monroe Expressway in Union County in North Carolina is expected to open Nov. 27, and first responders have been training on the $460 million toll road to improve response times. A camera system will be used to inform emergency responders of accidents.
Ford CEO Jim Hackett said the company would consider fellow automakers or other companies that want to invest in Ford's autonomous vehicle business, but did not sound overly optimistic that a deal would be struck with German automaker Volkswagen to expand an existing partnership. Ford and Volkswagen are in a project to develop light commercial vehicles.
New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority has warned it needs additional sources of revenue or else will be forced to raise tolls and public transit fares and cut services. The organization has seen a decline in ridership and revenue, and congestion pricing is one avenue being discussed.
Transportation advocates were encouraged by voting outcomes across the country and are looking to push for increased transportation funding in 2019. Several governors campaigned on improving infrastructure, but still must get funding measures through legislatures.
Developers say the 28-story, 750,000-square-foot Millennial Tower in the RiverSouth neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio, is still being pursued despite the delayed timeline. The $150 million project, first proposed in 2016 and approved by the Downtown Commission in January, will include 189 residences, a 135-room hotel, 130,000 square feet of office space, 40,000 square feet of retail space, a conference and event center, an outdoor pool and a fitness center.
A consortium led by Denmark's Aarhus School of Architecture has developed a robotic manufacturing method that could slash the cost of concrete formwork production by 50%, decrease concrete use by up to 70% and significantly speed up the production time of conventional formwork. The team used an electrically driven abrasive wire spinning around a carbon-fiber frame to create the first topology-optimized structural design in ultra-high-performance concrete.
With the $228 million restoration of the Cincinnati Museum Center's historical Union Terminal complete, the center will re-open Saturday. While the restoration has been hailed as a potential model for other metro areas, officials faced a number of challenges along the way, including how to strategically place eight 12,000-pound steel beams.
The American Society of Civil Engineers gave Pennsylvania infrastructure a C- in its latest report card, including a D+ for bridges, a D+ for roads, a D for public transit, a C for dams, a C for levees, a C+ for ports and a D for stormwater. "The grades ... reflect the current state of our infrastructure and are not reflections of the agencies in our state that are tasked with maintaining our infrastructure, often with limited budgets," Bob Dengler, president of the ASCE Pittsburgh section, says.
Hensel Phelps won a $327 million contract to build a new international arrivals facility and terminal lobby at Nashville International Airport. They're part of the airport's $1.2 billion BNA Vision plan, and construction is expected to begin in 2019.