Florida Bridges Beat the Clock
Today, when budget overruns and delays on construction projects are the rule more than the exception, 11 precast segmental balanced cantilever bridges on two contracts were recently completed...
Future Transfers of Water and Conveyance Capacity Between the CVP and the California SWP
On November 24, 1986, the Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) executed an agreement known as the Coordinated Operations Agreement or COA....
The Fine Print
An engineer who uses software, or supervises those who do, must know the laws regulating its purchase and use. Whether a company contracts for custom software, or leases, licenses or contracts...
Project Management: Now On-Line
Only 20 years ago, computerized project management was available only to large firms with mainframe computers. Even four or five years back, well into the personal-computer revolution,...
The Eichleay Formula�Time to Retire?
The Eichleay formula is the one most commonly used to settle claims by contractors against owners who delay a project. The formula is based on six questionable assumptions, however. When...
Structural Details: Is Anything Missing?
While actual failure of a structure is uncommon, many projects have less publicized, detailing-related difficulties involving rework, changes, clarifications, and increased costs. If the...
Don't Litigate. Negotiate!
Because of the nature of the construction business, contract disputes are often the rule rather than the exception. Rather than spending millions of dollars and many years on litigation,...
Fast Tracking Military Waste
The installation restoration program, the military version of Superfund, helped fast track the cleanup contracts for four military hazwaste sites located at Hanscom Air Field, Bedford,...
The High Line Canal Hydroelectric Project: Micro Hydro for a Macro Utility
The High Line Canal Hydroelectric Project is rated at 530 kilowatts (kW), and features benefits that accrue due to relatively low costs of $2,100 per installed kW, average annual energy...
Turnkey Hydropower at St. Cloud
The St. Cloud Hydroelectric Project is located at an existing dam on the Mississippi River in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The project consists of a two-gated spillway and an 8.6-megawatt powerhouse...
Liability Traps to Avoid
This presentation shows several problem situations and the rules of the game as played by the industry and the courts. It makes three basic assumptions. One, the Materials Engineer knows...
Avoiding and Resolving Disputes in Underground Construction
Successful Practices and Guidelines
A method of developing cooperative, problem-solving attitudes on projects through a basic risk sharing philosophy between owner and contractor is presented. Special contracting provisions...
Cautious Risk Taking
Traditionally, the design engineer could bear virtually unlimited liability for design failure. Now he is less vulnerable. The concept is less than 20 years old, but since the early 70s,...
They're Coming to America
Foreign firms have been involved in the U.S. construction market for decades but their role has been small. Foreign contractors lacked information and communication skills and they believed...
Contractability?Recent Concepts in Contracting
Owners are customizing project delivery systems by uniquely aligning service agreements and construction contracts. Seeking more productive ways to construct facilities, owners currently...
A Model Cost Comparison Between Construction Management and General Contracting
This paper presents a model cost comparison between general contracting and construction management in a typical mid-rise 5-10 story office building. The model separates cost of construction...
Project Constructability?A Contractor's View
This paper addresses a contractor's view of what can be done to improve project constructibility from the design through the actual construction of the project. It addresses...
Utilization of Specifications
Project specifications need to be practical, enforceable, and above all must be clear and specific enough to enable any competent builder to understand them, bid on them and carry them...
Mobilization for a Construction Project in an Urban Environment
Mobilization by a contractor for the construction of a major project must consider four basic objectives: efficient work performance, owner satisfaction, site safety, and minimal community...
Reflections on Design of a Turnkey Hydro-Power Project?Calaveras, California
Developing the Calaveras project under a turnkey agreement has shown that: (1) some 2 years can be saved, (2) cash flow for the owner is significantly delayed, because engineering is first...
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