MTA's East Side Access Project Faces New Delays

For those hoping that the MTA could get the East Side Access project on track, wonder no more. It will be seeing even more delays now that the construction has run into new troubles at the Sunnyside Yards.

It now appears Long Island Rail Road trains won’t be stopping at Grand Central Terminal until 2019.

That’s the word Tuesday from Joseph Lhota, the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The MTA is building a new tunnel under the East River to allow LIRR trains access to Grand Central. All LIRR trains now go to Penn Station.

Lhota says there have been problems tunneling underneath a rail yard in Queens. The MTA has brought in experts from Europe to help with developing a plan going forward.

Expect that the cost for the project will also increase as a result of missed deadlines and additional costs in engineering around the problems. The problems stem from having to deal with the disposal of contaminated soils and the ground in the construction site is soft rather than rocky. It's interesting that the problems aren't with tunneling under Grand Central Terminal and Manhattan, but in the vicinity of Sunnyside Yards.

Once East Side Access (allowing LIRR trains to access Grand Central Terminal rather than going to NY Penn Station) is completed, it should reduce commute times from Long Island to the East Side of Manhattan by 40 minutes and expand capacity of the LIRR by 41%.

The project began in 2006 and was originally scheduled for completion in 2012, but delays have pushed the completion and commencement of revenue service back to 2014, 2016, 2018, and now 2019. As of 2011, the expected cost of the project was $7.3 billion with a 2016 completion date (which is $1 billion higher than the costs estimated at the outset in 2006).

The latest news will surely mean that the budget will continue rising upwards.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 149

While the Freedom Tower (1WTC) continues rising towards its ultimate height of 1,776 feet, there has been an ongoing issue about how the first 20 stories of the tower will be clad. Under the original design, prismatic glass would clad the exterior, but tests revealed that the glass would not react properly to explosions - it would cause huge shards, rather than turn into pebbles like other tempered glass.

So, the glass idea was scrapped and a replacement was sought.

The new plan still involves glass, but it's of a different type and configuration.

The new design for the exterior cladding on One World Trade Center features horizontal stainless steel panels behind vertical glass fins going up the 20 stories of the fortress-like base.

“They will reflect light during the day and the night and give the building’s base a distinctive look,” said Port Authority executive director Patrick Foye on Tuesday. “In the evening, the combination of the water and the lights on the memorial pools we think, frankly, will be picked up by the glass on the podium at One World Trade Center and it’s consistent with the overall aesthetic of the site.”

These glass louvers will allow backlighting to give a distinctive effect for the base, and hopefully lighten the base, which is comprised of concrete surrounding the lobby area to minimize the effects of a potential car or truck bomb.

The cost for the new glass is $37.2 million for engineering, fabricating, and installing the glass facade and the installation will occur in 2013 as the tower is being completed. The original design glass installation was to cost $80+ million, but no one has made an accounting for how much money has been spent on the original design.

New York City Edges Closer To Picking Team To Build New Applied Science Campus on Roosevelt Island

There's a huge contest to build a new education campus on Roosevelt Island - that would spur serious economic development and new r&d opportunities because of the focus on technology and engineering (applied sciences campus). Big money is involved, and so are big name research universities.

It's down to really 2 serious offers. One is from Stamford, the other from Cornell. I'm liking the Cornell group's chances, and that's not only because Cornell's group includes Technion U from Israel. Technion's graduates have gone on to great success internationally - half the Israel companies on the NASDAQ are headed by Technion alumni. There's tremendous entrepreneurial spirit there; and teamed up with Silicon Alley, it could lead to expanded economic opportunties throughout NYC and the region.

Roosevelt Island was picked because it had the space necessary for a new campus (Governor's Island was another option but had less transportation infrastructure available to make this happen anytime soon).

Statue of Liberty to Close For Renovations in 2011

The Statue of Liberty will close for nine months beginning October 2011 to vastly improve access to the crown. The statue had been off limits to tourists following the 9/11 terror attacks and visitors were able only to view the statue from the pedestal. The statue reopened to tourists earlier this year after security improvements were made.

The statue is scheduled to close in October 2011, after its 125th anniversary, to create a secondary stairwell down from the pedestal. Right now, tourists go up one side and down another. One elevator is installed for tourists who can't or don't want to walk up; firefighters don't use elevators in emergencies.

The statue shut down after the Sept. 11 terror attacks and reopened in 2004 after the $20 million upgrade. The crown remained off-limits, mostly because the narrow, double-helix staircase could not be safely evacuated in an emergency and didn't comply with fire and building codes.

A stairwell to the observation area at the pedestal is forgiving, and air conditioned, with handrails and landings where people can rest of they need to.

From there, those with access to the crown ascend into the statue's body, where it's considerably warmer, aided by handrails. The shallow steps are 19 inches wide and taper at one end. Head clearance is just a little more than 6 feet.

The parks service is upfront about the difficulty of the climb to the top, warning that only people who can walk unassisted should even attempt it and should drink water at least 30 minutes beforehand on hot days. Tourists often suffer heat exhaustion, shortness of breath, panic attacks, claustrophobia and fear of heights.

The crown remains extremely popular, however: No tickets are available until November.

Work will involve building a second staircase to lead up to the crown. For those who haven't made the daunting climb, it's a test of endurance and stamina because the narrow spiral staircase can lead to vertigo and disorientation, to say nothing of heat exhaustion on hot days.

The interior framework of the statue was designed by Gustaf Eiffel, who later created the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris. Construction of the secondary staircase will have to work around Eiffel's design.

Dow To Begin Promoting Thin Film Solar Shingles

Solar power is one of the ways that the nation can reduce its dependence on petroleum products, but a problem has always been cost and the ability to retrofit structures to accept the solar systems.

Dow appears to have figured out how to make thin film solar shingles that could be installed by a roofer just as they would asphalt shingles. An electrician would be required to hook up the array to an inverter and the household power, but that's a significantly lower cost than having to bring in a specialized company to install a solar system.

The solar shingles will begin test marketing in 2010.

Dow plans to begin test-marketing the solar shingle in mid-2010, initially targeting new-home construction. Ms. Palmieri said the market could be worth $5 billion by 2015 and noted that 90 percent of homes in the United States use asphalt shingles.

Dow designed the shingles, which will initially be manufactured at the company’s Midland, Mich., facility. Global Solar of Tucson, Ariz., is supplying the thin-film solar cells.

Thin-film has generally not been used for residential systems because of its relatively low efficiency – Global Solar’s cells are 10 percent efficient. That means a larger array is required generate the same of amount of electricity as conventional solar panels.

But Dave Parrillo, the senior research and development director for Dow Solar Solutions, said the solar shingles can offset between 40 percent and 80 percent of a home’s electricity consumption.

I think this has serious potential, although I wonder how it would hold up to repeated impacts caused by falling branches and other tree debris. Another potential issue would be weight, particularly on older homes; if the weight is comparable, then solar could gain wider adoption.

In parts of the country where there is ample sun, this could be a significant source of alternative energy and reduce energy consumption from utility companies. At the same time, as more people convert to such systems, tax revenues from utility taxes and fees will decline, meaning that states will find themselves in a bind to come up with new revenue sources.

Shaky Foundation

This is not good news for those in the New York City metro area. A testing company responsible for ensuring that concrete poured at projects around the city met the engineering criteria for strength is being investigated for making up bogus results. In fact, investigations have revealed that Testwell Labs falsified results on concrete compression tests:

The company, Testwell Laboratories, has been hired in recent years to analyze the strength of concrete on a raft of public projects, including work for the city, as well as legions of commercial and residential buildings that were constructed in the area. But investigators have discovered evidence indicating that for at least five years, the company has falsified some concrete test results, according to several people who have been briefed on the investigation, being conducted by the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau.

The company has denied the allegations. Because the investigation is not complete, a spokesman at the city’s Department of Buildings said that while some retesting will surely be done, officials were unsure how many buildings they might have to retest. They also have to determine whether to test existing buildings or just those currently under construction.

But as prosecutors analyze evidence seized from Testwell’s offices in June, including detailed computerized records of concrete compression tests, the potential scope of the undertaking facing the city, private builders and developers looms large.

With the city alone, Testwell holds roughly $12 million in contracts and has done millions of dollars in work for the government agencies that build schools, and has done work on bridges and subway tunnels. Among the projects where investigators have uncovered irregularities in the testing are the new Yankee Stadium and the Freedom Tower in Lower Manhattan.

The company denies wrongdoing, but the City will likely have to retest various projects where Testwell provided results.

While engineers note that the structures remain safe since the concrete used in NYC area building projects are high quality, tests will still need to be run to ensure that the structures are up to code.

When Levees Break

This time, a series of levees were breached in Wisconsin due to severe storms that dumped up to a foot of rain in 12 hours.

In Wisconsin, an engineer assessment team from the National Guard was headed to Lake Delton on Tuesday to determine what would be needed to begin repairs on an embankment along the man-made lake that gave way, releasing a powerful current.


Slide show
Storm stress
View images from the flooding and other damage during a week of storms.

more photos
The 267-acre lake emptied into the nearby Wisconsin River on Monday, washing out part of a highway, sweeping away three homes and tearing apart two others.

Don Kubenik, 68, burst into tears after seeing the 2,800-square-foot home he built in 2003 snapped into pieces when the lake's embankment burst. The businessman from the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis said he spent every weekend there.

"That house had everything you can imagine and now it's all gone," said Kubenik, who was in West Allis when the lake overflowed. "My boat's gone. The pier's gone. Everything is gone."

Lake Delton, a key part of the Wisconsin Dells tourism area, was nearly dry by Monday afternoon. The 20 resorts that line the lake already are reporting cancellations by people who had planned summer vacations in the area.

The rains and flooding will affect crops in the region, and will send prices for corn and other crops higher.

China Hit By Additional Aftershocks; Dams Damaged

Chinese authorities are concerned by 69 dams in Sichuan that have been badly damaged, and also by numerous rivers that have been blocked by landslides. The Chinese military has been called in to blow up some of those landslides so that the rivers can resume their prior flow.

Nearly 70 dams scarred by the force of China's most powerful earthquake in three decades were in danger of bursting, rattled again Sunday by one of the strongest aftershocks since the initial disaster.

Meanwhile, soldiers carrying explosives hiked to a lake formed by a blocked river near the epicenter, hoping to blast through debris to alleviate the threat of floods.

The confirmed death toll from the May 12 quake rose to 62,664, with another 23,775 people missing, the Cabinet said. Premier Wen Jiabao has said the number of dead could surpass 80,000.

An aftershock Sunday afternoon caused office towers to sway in Beijing, 800 miles away. There was no immediate information on any new damage.

The magnitude 5.8 aftershock was among the most powerful recorded, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The China National Seismic Network, which uses a different measurement system, said the aftershock was the strongest of dozens since May 12.

The aftershock lasted about 20 seconds in the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu. At one teahouse, customers scurried into an open courtyard. "It's scary, but we're getting used to it," said Mary Nong, a 46-year-old telephone company worker.

The Water Resources Ministry said in a statement Sunday that 69 dams in Sichuan were in danger of collapse. It did not give further details.

The government had earlier said the quake affected 391 dams, mostly small structures.

China's sorrow is far from over, as the death toll continues climbing.

Setting Up For Next Major Disaster in China

While the death toll in China continues climbing above 55,000, people are trying to sell scrap rebar recovered from buildings that were destroyed in the Sichuan earthquake for reuse saying it's strong enough

Many of those buildings that were destroyed in the quake lacked sufficient rebar and/or used substandard rebar. If they reuse the rebar recovered from those buildings, they'll just be setting up for the next major quake. For China, it's not a question of if, but when.

The Chinese authorities have been pushing a huge building boom, but haven't exactly paid much attention to construction techniques to ensure that they're meeting all the structural and engineering requirements until now.

At the back of a junkyard crowded with dirty pipes in Mianyang, China, two men were at work this past week straightening tangled mountains of rusty reinforcing bars and rebundling them for sale.

"It's strong enough," said Zeng Shuncai, one of the men. He said he is expecting sales to boom now that so many families will need to build new homes in this city near the epicenter of last week's giant earthquake in southwestern China. Engineers say such secondhand steel isn't as strong as new rebar, but it sells for about $100 less per metric ton.

As China begins the monumental task of rebuilding housing for an estimated five million left homeless by the quake, it is also undertaking a major re-evaluation of construction practices that could change the way people live well beyond the areas that were leveled by the 7.9-magnitude quake.

Many say substandard construction exacerbated the quake's toll. Nearly 56,000 people have been confirmed dead, and about 25,000 remain missing. The severity of the temblor, which was China's worst in three decades and exceeded the level foreseen by government building codes, magnified the damage.

But architects and engineers say many of the simple four- and five-story structures that crumbled should have been able to withstand such a strong quake -- if they had been built properly. They say many buildings don't appear to have had enough steel reinforcing rods, or rebar, in their concrete to withstand the quake's rapid, lateral shaking.

These structures "should not have collapsed," said Silas Chiow, director of China operations for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, a U.S. architecture firm that is building some of tallest skyscrapers in China.

"The supervision of the quality of construction and engineering should be improved," says Li Zhengliang, an engineer who is vice director of Chongqing University's school of architecture and civil engineering.

Mr. Li, who traveled to the quake zone to inspect buildings, says that in many cases, he and his colleagues discovered "inferior" materials were used in the construction of structures that collapsed. Many older buildings hadn't been renovated to meet upgraded seismic regulations, he said. Chen Zhong, a senior official in charge of quality standards at the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, says "seismic-fortification standards for buildings need to be revised," given advances in technology and China's ability to afford stronger regulation.

Chinese authorities have said that they've been able to restore power and water service to much of the affected area.

Meanwhile, the NYT reports that Chinese authorities arrested a woman who posted a video online complaining about the quake coverage - that there was too much and why people should pay so much attention to the problem given just how few died compared to the number of people who live in China (more than 1 billion). No word on the law she broke.

Chinese Authorities Admit Death Toll Could Climb Above 50,000

It's absolutely tragic, but there isn't anything the central government can do about it now except to hasten the relief and recovery efforts. They're still reliant on winding roads that are barely passable to get aid into the region.

The Chinese government admits that the death toll from the quake could top 50,000. That's still low-balling the figures based on the number of people in the affected region, and the totality of damage in some areas hardest hit, but gives you some sense of what the Chinese are facing in Sichuan province.

MSNBC also questions whether the building boom led to shortcuts and paying short shrift to safety in new construction.

Other infrastructure old and new suffered as well. Nearly 400 dams, most of them small, were damaged across Sichuan, the government's economic planning agency said on its Web site. One of the two bigger ones, Zipingpu, had cracks four inches across its top; and though the government said the dam was safe, its reservoir was drained.

China is jolted by thousands of earthquakes every year, at least several of them major ones that cause significant damage and loss of life. Since the 1976 quake in Tangshan near Beijing killed at least 240,000 people, the communist government has tried to improve building standards.

"China has been taking earthquake safety very seriously in the past 10 to 20 years," said Susan Tubbesing, head of the California-based Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. "From what I understand, the codes China has adopted in the past 20 years have been good, solid, seismic codes."

Enforcement varies
Enforcement, however, varies. The building boom that has underpinned much of the stunning growth has also been an invitation for corruption, with officials and developers colluding. Profit margins are thinner on smaller projects in less prosperous places, encouraging developers to cut corners.

Older structures might not meet current codes, and there are newer construction that might not have been built to those codes because builders took shortcuts. Either way, the Chinese government will have to deal with the reality that so much infrastructure was devastated and reassess their building codes and rapid pace of construction.

There was serious concern about Zipingpu Dam, located above one of the cities hardest hit by the quake, Dujiangyan. 2,000 soldiers were forced to respond to make immediate repairs and to lower the reservoir levels after 4-inch cracks appeared in the top of the dam. This will clearly have to force a reassessment of building codes and makes one wonder about the safety of dams and other structures throughout the rest of China, much of which is seismically active.

Damage to the two-year-old Zipingpu Dam threatened downstream communities still digging out from the quake. Some 2,000 soldiers were sent to the dam, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Four-inch cracks scarred the top of the dam, and landslides had poured down the surrounding hills, the business news magazine Caijing said on its Web site in a report from the scene.

Although the government pronounced the dam safe late Tuesday after an inspection, Caijing said its waters were being emptied to relieve pressure. The Ministry of Water Resources issued a notice to check reservoirs nationwide, while the economic planning agency said nearly 400 dams, most of them small, were damaged by the quake.

Hundreds of rivers snake through the mountainous Tibetan plateau before descending into the fertile Sichuan basin where they provide critical irrigation.

The activist group International Rivers Network was involved in a campaign in 2001 and 2002 to protest funding for the Zipingpu Dam because of its proximity to a fault line, said Aviva Imhoff, the group’s campaigns director.

Imhoff said the group obtained transcripts of a 2000 internal government meeting in which seismologists warned officials of the dangers of constructing the dam and the potential for it to be damaged in an earthquake, Imhoff said.

Video has also surfaced showing the moments that the quake struck. There are still moments of joy, as a survivor is pulled from the rubble, even 60+ hours after the quake, but those are few and far between. All too often, the scene is one of recovering the remains of those who lived, worked, played, and went to school in the affected region.

UPDATE:
YNet is reporting that the Chinese government is appealing for emergency equipment to assist in the relief and recovery efforts. That's a far cry from past natural disasters in the country, and suggests that the Chinese government is starting to realize its very real shortcomings.

Fire Causes Collapse of Delft University of Technology Architecture Building

HT: Ben Hur of LGF

The fire completely destroyed the building.

A “catastrophic” fire has caused serious damage to the architecture faculty at Delft University in the Netherlands, endangering first edition books by Rem Koolhaas and MVRDV and Gerrit Rietveld furniture.

Although no-one was injured in the blaze, much of the 14-storey building has been completely destroyed, BD understands.

Tony Fretton, a visiting professor at the department, said the fire -- which broke out on a mid-level floor around 9am local time and rapidly spread upwards - is believed to have been started by a short circuit in a coffee machine caused by a faulty water pipe.

“The faculty building caught alight, then spread to the library and the historic chair collection - which includes Rietveld's Red and Blue chair,” Fretton said. “The fire brigade couldn't get close to it and decided to stand back and let the fire burn itself out. The whole building is gutted. The effect will be enormous - there are 3,000 students. It's a complete calamity.”

China's Sorrow Continues UPDATE: Concerns About Dam Failures

The death toll from the massive 7.9 quake in Sichuan continues rising, as more than 15,000 have been reported dead, with several times that number still buried in the rubble.

The Chinese military has finally made it into the heart of the affected area and begun relief and recovery operations. Many of those who survived were badly injured, which means that the longer that it takes for relief efforts to reach them, the more likely people will die of their injuries.

The soldiers who reached Wenchuan County, the epicenter of the 7.9-magnitude quake that struck China on Monday, began ferrying survivors across rivers on plastic skiffs. But in the first township that the soldiers reached, Yingxiu, only 2,300 of 10,000 residents could be confirmed alive, according to Xinhua, the state news agency.

A poor farming region that is home to a famous panda reserve, Wenchuan is believed to be one of the worst-hit areas.

“There is an urgent need for medical staff, medicine, food and drinking water,” said He Biao, the deputy secretary-general of the Aba prefectural government, which includes Wenchuan.

The fact that aid was finally able to reach Wenchuan was a minor triumph in the aftermath of the worst earthquake to hit China in more than 30 years. Until Wednesday, Wenchuan had been completely cut off from the outside world, and the longer it remained completely isolated, the more people would suffer and ultimately die. Half of the survivors had severe injuries, Chinese officials said.

But the threat of further earthquakes and aftershocks remained high across the entire region. A small tremor could be felt here in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan Province, around 11 a.m. Wednesday. Hours later, workers in at least one high-rise hotel asked guests to move to lower floors because of a heightened earthquake alert.

While hope grows dim for many still trapped in the rubble, there was one bright spot as a pregnant woman trapped in the rubble for 50 hours was pulled alive:

Some rare moments of good news emerged on Wednesday. A woman who was eight-months pregnant and trapped in rubble for 50 hours was pulled to safety in the town of Dujiangyan, The Associated Press reported. Another woman was also rescued shortly afterward.

MSNBC reports that the death toll is likely far higher than the figures bandied about thus far - that 26,000 remain buried in the rubble and another 14,000 remain unaccounted for. That's on top of the nearly 15,000 people killed according to official tallies.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao continues his tour of the region, and met with the pregnant woman:

Premier Wen Jiabao looked over her wounds, part of his highly publicized tour of the disaster area aimed at reassuring the public about the government's response and to show the world that the country is ready to host the Beijing Olympics in August.

Wednesday's leg of the Olympic torch relay in the southeastern city of Ruijin began with a minute of silence.

Wen said some 100,000 troops and police had been dispatched to the disaster zone. He also visited a school Wednesday in Beichuan where two classroom buildings collapsed in the earthquake, including a school with 2,000 students that state TV said sustained "heavy casualties."

UPDATE:
This already dangerous situation might become even more so - a dam upstream from Dujiangyan has serious structural problems and the Chinese government has rushed 2,000 troops to try and deal with the situation. They're trying to reduce the level of the reservoir behind it to prevent a breach or collapse. The Chinese authorities aren't exactly doing their best to inform those downstream by the looks of it though:

The state-run news agency Xinhua said that 2,000 troops had been sent to work on the Zipingku Dam in Sichuan province.

Speaking from Dujiangyan, Sky's China correspondent Peter Sharp said many local people seemed unaware of the threat.

"It (the dam) is only five kilometres away, we are downstream of it," he said.

"We understand that some of the People's Liberation Army troops that are deployed here helping with the rescue operation... 2,000 of them [have been moved] upriver to seal some serious cracks in the dam wall."

There's a solitary report that suggests damage to the Three Gorges Dam, but no corroboration. If that dam complex were to fail, tens of millions of people along the Yangtze River could be killed by the wall of water rushing downstream.

UPDATE:
Treehugger posted a related report on the situation with the dams yesterday - noting that there was serious concern about the hydroelectric infrastructure in the region and that there were concerns about dams above Dujiangyan.

UPDATE:
CNN reports that the situation at the dam is pretty grim - the hydroelectric station and related structures are in ruins and partly sunk. That suggests that water is seeping through the structures and it could be only a matter of time before a full-scale breach occurs. 655,000 people live in Dujiangyan.

UPDATE:
MSNBC reports that hundreds of dams were damaged:

The National Development Reform Commission, China's top economic planning body, said on its Web site Wednesday that the earthquake had damaged 391 dams. It said two of the dams were large ones, 28 were medium-sized and the rest were small ones. It did not give any other details or say if Zipingpu was one of the dams.

With rains expected in the region, structural problems at the dams will be further complicated as the problems cascade from dams upstream to those downstream.

UPDATE:
There are a series of dams above Dujiangyan, including the historic water works depicted here:

View Larger Map

It's hard to tell which of these dams is the one that causes the most concern for officials. There is another dam just upstream that holds back a considerable reservoir, which could be the dam in question. If anyone else has any more information, please provide them in the comments.

NYC Construction Update - Crane Crackdown

In light of the fatal crane collapse nearly two weeks ago, the Buildings Department is engaging in more vigorous inspections of cranes and new protocols. Of the nine inspected at major sites thus far, three have failed, including a crane at the Trump SoHo, which was the scene of the worst construction accident of the year prior to the Midtown crane collapse (a worker died when a concrete form collapsed, sending concrete flying and the worker fell 42 stories to his death).

Inspectors will be required to be on scene when any crane is being jacked up to the next level or disassembled. The Midtown collapse occurred when the crane was being jumped (extended).

Meanwhile, the Hudson Yards project cleared a major hurdle today, when Crane's New York reported that Tishman Speyer won the right to build on the site.

Tishman Speyer edged out three other development teams to win the fierce competition to develop the Hudson Rail Yards, the 26-acre site on Manhattan’s far West side that is envisioned as an extension of midtown’s business district.

Tishman Speyer bid $1.004 billion for the rights to the plot, where it plans to build 10 million square feet of office space and 3 million square feet of housing while leaving 13 acres of open space. Its offer was $112 million higher than a competing offer from a joint venture of The Durst Organization and Vornado Realty Trust. That group had lined up Condé Naste Publications as a tenant and its proposed 6.4 million square feet of residential space was the most offered by any developer.

It is expected to cost $1.5 billion to build a platform over the train tracks so construction can begin.

It would be one of the largest developments in the city, rivaling the construction at Ground Zero. The hurdles are also quite daunting - significant zoning changes are required and a platform needs to be built over the rail yards before actual construction on the buildings can begin.

Messing With Success

Someone has decided that the current design of the Eiffel Tower was insufficient for the 120th anniversary of the opening of the tower, designed by Gustav Eiffel for the 1889 Paris Exposition.

Put simply, they're going to bolt on extensions to the Tower's highest observation deck, increasing its size. Sacre bleu!

Here's how that would look, when viewing it from the base.

Ghastly doesn't begin to describe it. Right now, the Tower has very slender and graceful lines. This looks like someone is putting an ill-fitting hat on top of it. It isn't very attractive at all. More to the point, why was it decided that such changes were needed? Past celebrations of the Tower's birthday have been marked with new and improved lighting displays. The current display includes hundreds of flashing lights that sparkle and shimmer.

The Societe d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) has announced that Serero Architects of Paris has won a competition to redesign the structure's public viewing platform and reception areas. The winning design, which will be 276 metres above the ground, will not require permanent modification of the existing structure. It will double the capacity of the public viewing area on the tower's top floor.

The new platform will be bolted onto the tower using a web of Kevlar, an extremely strong and lightweight carbon fibre used in the construction of racing cars and body armour. The platform will use a cantilevered design similar to the way an aircraft's wings are attached to the fuselage.

The design is already causing controversy, with critics questioning the wisdom of tinkering with the famous silhouette and spending money on upgrading a tourist attraction that attracts 6.9 million visitors a year.

A spokesman for SETE explained in a statement that the plan to restructure the top of the tower was intended to increase the quality of access. Average waiting times for the tower's lifts now run at more than an hour during peak periods.

I can remember waiting more than an hour to ride up to the observation decks, and you know what - it was totally worth the time. I got to enjoy the view of the tower from many different angles.

New Photos Reveal Problems With Minnesota Bridge That Collapsed

Photos have been released showing problems with the Minneapolis bridge that collapsed August 1, 2007, killing 13 and wounded over 100 others. The photos, taken in 2003 [ed: corrected for date instead of range] by a consulting firm hired by the state DOT investigation, show gusset plates visibly bowing. The plates are key structural members that join together steel supports that make up the trusses that carry the bridge loads.

No action was taken at the time the photos were made. And you can be assured that the families of those who died in the collapse are wondering how and why no action was taken when the photos clearly show that something wasn't quite right with the bridge support systems.

Two photos, part of a report issued earlier this month by the National Transportation Safety Board, reveal slight bends in gusset plates that hold beams together at two separate connecting points. The plates are in areas believed to be among the first points of failure when the span collapsed.

The NTSB's Office of Highway Safety confirmed that the bowing is part of the investigation into why the bridge collapsed Aug. 1, the Star Tribune newspaper reported Sunday.

NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker didn't comment on the photos, but has said the original design for the bridge specified steel for those and other gusset plates that was too thin.

NTSB spokesman Terry Williams told the Star Tribune the bowing is among "the many things that we are looking at as part of this investigation."

The newspaper said inspection records make no mention of repairs to the bending gusset plates.

Williams did not immediately respond to an Associated phone message seeking comment Sunday. State transportation department spokeswoman Lucy Kender also did not immediately respond to phone and e-mail messages.

The two photos are believed to have been taken by URS Inc., a San Francisco consulting firm the state hired to examine the bridge from 2003 to 2007.

"URS and the state have both got a lot of explaining to do as far as why (the bending) was not observed, and if it was observed, why that was not immediately investigated," James Schwebel, an attorney representing a group of victims, told the AP on Sunday. "How could it possibly have been missed?"

The structural load that the bridge was carrying was increased twice since it was built in 1967, most recently when concrete barriers were installed in 1998. Also, an additional 190 tons of construction materials was on the bridge at the time of the collapse.

Construction on the replacement span continues. The concrete piers that will carry the load across the Mississippi River are under construction, and the approaches to the bridge are also well underway, with a scheduled completion date of Christmas 2008. A schematic of the new bridge and how it is being built can be found here.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 18

48 days late, but better than never, the Port Authority has handed over the East side of the Ground Zero site to Larry Silverstein so that Tower 3 and Tower 4 can begin construction.

he World Trade Center site's owner turned over land where two office towers are planned to a developer, clearing the way for construction to begin soon on more skyscrapers at ground zero.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey finished excavating the land for the towers on Sunday, 48 days behind a deadline it set for itself in an agreement with Larry Silverstein. The agency paid $14.4 million in late fees to the developer. It said it partially made up for the cost by not paying the contractor a $10 million bonus it would have received for finishing on time.

The Port Authority worked for more than a year to build 80-foot-deep foundations for two towers that Silverstein will build, removing nearly 400,000 tons of concrete, soil and rock. Silverstein had said that construction would begin on the towers within weeks after the land was turned over.

The Port Authority incurred nearly $15 million in late fees for missing its deadline to have the site prepped for Silverstein. That amount is offset by withholding a $10 million payment to the contractor who was preparing the foundations in the area for Silverstein.

Now that the foundation work is done, Silverstein can begin the actual rebuilding of Ground Zero along the Church/Greenwich Street corridor.

Still, there is little movement on the deconstruction of the Deutsche Bank building, which must come down for full development at Ground Zero to get underway since it is a key location for the security center for vehicles accessing the site underground.

Steve Cuozzo notes that the City needs this new office space, and space built elsewhere in the City to remain competitive globally. This, despite grumbling from some real estate experts who think that building on spec (without signed tenants) is not a good idea:

CBRE Regional CEO Mary Ann Tighe notes that 64 percent of Manhattan's towers will be more than 50 years old by 2010; nationally it's 24 percent.

That matters because companies that count most to the city's economy increasingly demand brand new buildings, not buildings 50 or even 10 years old. Only the newest locations offer the 14-foot "slab to slab" floor heights needed to install modern fiber optics, among other amenities.

Developers can improve lobbies and modernize heating and ventilation systems - but an older building is still an older building.

New York developers, landlords and brokers take comfort in a "disciplined" market where new buildings rarely go up without pre- signed tenants. It's a big reason why today's vacancy rate of around 8 percent is unlikely to mushroom out of control even in the event of large-scale Wall Street layoffs.

But that same discipline - instilled after the bear market of the early '90s pushed a few new, temporarily vacant Midtown buildings into foreclosure - is also our Achilles heel, stifling urgently needed new construction.

It's ironic that for all developers' (and banks') fears of speculative building, every spec project of the past dozen years has been a howling success.

Douglas Durst's 4 Times Square instantly lured Condé Nast and Skadden Arps. Tishman Speyer's 222 E. 41st St., and Kipp/Stawski's 505 Fifth Ave. took no time at all to fill up. Silverstein's 7 WTC is well on its way to being full.

UPDATE:
OSHA has handed down fines for the fire at the Deutsche Bank building against Bovis Lend Lease and John Galt Corp:

The 41-story building has stood beside ground zero as an ugly reminder of the Sept. 11 attack and the slow progress of rebuilding Lower Manhattan. The complex project, perhaps the most closely scrutinized undertaking of its kind, involved removing asbestos and other potentially toxic materials from the tower and tearing it down floor by floor. The deconstruction work had torn down the building to its 26th floor when the fire halted the project.

OSHA cited the two contractors for a total of $464,500 in proposed fines. They issued three willful and 22 serious citations to Galt, carrying fines of $271,500 and 2 willful and 17 serious citations to Bovis, with $193,000 in fines.

The agency defines a willful violation as one committed “with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health.” A serious citation, according to the agency, is one in which “death or serious physical harm is likely to result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.”

The EPA has approved a new plan to deconstruct the building after decontaminating the entire building first. The plan previously used had both decontamination and deconstruction going on simultaneously on different floors.

Judge Tosses Katrina Class Action Suit Against Army Corps

The Army Corps of Engineers may be immune from liability for the breaching of levees in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but it doesn't absolve them of their multiple failures to provide a secure flood control system. The Corps is immune under a 1928 law.

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval acknowledged Wednesday that the agency failed to properly safeguard the city, but he ruled that the Corps was protected by the Flood Control Act of 1928. It shields the federal government from liability when flood control projects fail.

The Corps designed the levee system that was supposed to protect the low-lying city. But after Katrina stuck the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, steel-and-concrete levees eroded and failed in several areas, flooding about 80 percent of the city with water up to 20 feet deep.

In 2007, the Insurance Information Institute estimated insured losses for Katrina across Louisiana at $25.3 billion.

In his ruling, Stanwood said the Corps deserves blame for its role in the flooding even if it can't be held legally responsible.

Billions of dollars were spent on flood control measures in New Orleans, and by the Corps own admission, they were inadequate to protect against a lesser Hurricane, let alone Katrina. The Corps has been rushing to make improvements to the levee system.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 16

Steve Cuozzo is reporting that Santiago Calatrava and the Port Authority aren't playing nice over Calatrava's PATH hub design. Calatrava's trying to amend and append his original soaring vision, while the Port Authority hasn't exactly been commited to any design and is pushing value engineering (using cheaper materials and designs to hold costs, which continue to soar).

Gov. Eliot Spitzer is dithering as the Port Authority muddles along.

Cuozzo thinks that the starchitect ego is getting in the way of the project, but I think that if you've got a developer who has to face a bottom line, the project will get done. David Childs is no slouch in the ego department, and yet he worked with Larry Silverstein to get 7WTC built. Silverstein is working with Childs to get the Fredom Tower built, Robert AM Stern to get 99 Church built, and is working with Sir Norman Foster, Richard Rogers and Fumihiko Maki to build 2, 3, and 4 WTC. Construction on the Ground Zero (2, 3, and 4 WTC) sites has been delayed because site preparation by the Port Authority's contractors have been behind schedule - costing the Port Authority $300,000 per day.

FDNY Relaxes Inspection Policy

This is a real bad idea. The FDNY is relaxing its inspection of buildings that are being built or deconstructed - providing two different schedules depending on the height of the building.

In a Nov. 5 memo outlining the department's "guidelines" for inspecting buildings under construction or demolition, FDNY Operations Chief Patrick McNally told firefighters to inspect buildings taller than 75 feet every 15 days, and buildings under 75 feet every 30 days.

Those guidelines contradict city rules that require all buildings under construction - regardless of height - to be inspected by firefighters once every 15 days.

It's being done because the FDNY doesn't have the manpower to handle the current requirements.

Instead of relaxing the schedule, how about adding the manpower necessary to address a serious health and safety concern. This problem is all the more relevant considering that the death of two firefighters can be attributed in part to the lack of proper inspections of the Deutsche Bank building that would have discovered serious problems including non-working standpipes and flammable materials being used to cordon off areas for decontamination work on the stricken building.

The Big Dig's Big Day

After 14 years, and $14.8 billion, the Big Dig is finally completed. Five people were killed in the sprawling construction of the Central Artery Tunnel, including Milena Del Valle, who was killed July 2006 when a ceiling panel within the tunnel fell, crushing her to death. Her family settled with the company that produced the defective epoxy fastener, Powers Fasteners, for $6 million. Manslaughter charges are still pending against the company, along with Parsons Brinkenhoff and Betchel, who were the primary contractors on the project.

Officially, Dec. 31 marks the end of the joint venture that teamed megaproject contractor Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff with the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to build the dizzying array of underground highways, bridges, ramps and a new tunnel under Boston Harbor — all while the city remained open for business.

The project was so complex it's been likened to performing open heart surgery on a patient while the patient is wide awake.

Some didn't know if they'd live to see it end.

Enza Merola had a front row seat on the Big Dig from the front window of her pastry shop — stacked neatly with tiramisu, sfogliatelle and brightly colored Italian cookies — in Boston's North End.

During the toughest days of the project, the facade of Marie's Pastry Shop, named after her sister, was obscured from view. The only way customers could find the front door was along a treacherous path through heavy construction.

"For a while we thought we weren't going to make it," Merola said. "But you know, we hung in there."

The Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project — as the Big Dig is officially known — has its roots in the construction of the hulking 1950's era elevated Central Artery that cut a swath through the center of Boston, lopping off the waterfront from downtown and casting a shadow over some of the city's oldest neighborhoods.