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The article focuses on the ENR (Engineering News-Record) Best of the Best Projects of 2022. It highlights the top 20 construction projects in the U.S. that were completed between May 2021 and May 2022. It is reported that the projects were selected based on their teamwork, safety, overcoming challenges, innovation, and quality.

Jacobs, along with three other design firms, has signed a strategic partnership agreement with King Salman International Airport Development Co. to develop Saudi Arabia's planned $7.2 billion airport in Riyadh. The expanded airport will cover 22 square miles and include six parallel runways, with a goal of accommodating 100 million passengers by 2030. Jacobs and Foster + Partners will handle the infrastructure design, prioritizing low-carbon design and renewable energy. The project is part of Saudi Vision 2030, aimed at diversifying the country's economy, and is one of two mega-airports being developed in the Middle East. [Extracted from the article]

A new road project is underway in Peru to improve access to the historic site of Machu Picchu. Currently, the lack of a paved roadway means that the majority of visitors arrive by train. The project, called the Santa Maria-Santa Teresa-Machu Picchu Hydroelectric Bridge highway, involves paving 22 miles of roadway along the Urubamba River. The road will eliminate the need for switchbacks and deviations, reducing travel time to the site. The project aims to not only boost tourism but also provide local communities with improved transportation and access to markets. [Extracted from the article]

A Spanish consortium has been awarded a $3.4 billion contract to build a 22-mile ring road around Lima, Peru. The Anillo Vial Periférico will connect 11 districts and the port city of Callao, creating a vital link for major highways that currently do not intersect with the city. The consortium, led by Cintra, will handle the design, financing, construction, operation, and maintenance of the project. The road will feature tolled and toll-free lanes, tunnels, viaducts, underpasses, and overpasses, and will incorporate advanced technology for traffic management. The project aims to reduce congestion, improve transportation connections, and enhance trade and tourism in the region. [Extracted from the article]

The Panama Canal is facing water supply challenges due to increasing demands and drought conditions. To address this issue, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) is proposing the construction of a new reservoir in the Cocle province. The reservoir, called Rio Indio, is expected to cost $900 million and could be completed in five years. The project would provide a long-term solution to secure the canal's freshwater needs for the next 50 years. However, the proposal requires approval from the Panamanian government, and there is opposition from some farmers in the region. The construction of the reservoir is crucial to ensure the canal's operations and mitigate the negative ecological impacts of saltwater intrusion. [Extracted from the article]

The article informs about the master plan was developed by Los Angeles County Public Works, which oversees the river as part of the waterway's flood control district. Topics include planning effort was launched at the request of the board and has been led by a steering committee representing a gamut of key stakeholders; and Los Angeles County Public Works had an outline in mind but we had to really go out to community and pull them through a significant engagement process.

Panama Canal officials have announced plans for a new reservoir that will take six years to construct and cost an estimated $1.6 billion. The reservoir, known as the Rio Indio reservoir, is necessary to meet the growing water demands of the canal. The construction of the reservoir is estimated to take four years, with an additional two years for coordination with the local residents. The reservoir will provide enough water to meet the needs of both the canal and the country for the next 50 years. However, approximately 2,000 people will need to be relocated, and negotiations with around 12,000 property owners will be required. The estimated cost of purchasing the necessary property and meeting the needs of the impacted communities is $400 million, bringing the total estimated cost of the project to $1.2 billion. The reservoir will be connected to the canal's Gatun Lake by a tunnel. The need for the reservoir arose due to a drop in water levels caused by drought and El Nino, which significantly impacted the operations of the canal. [Extracted from the article]

While the story 'Suburban Warfare' (E&P, June 26, p. 24) gave an interesting overview of the competition between two daily papers in Arlington, Texas, it stooped inexplicably low with an [...]

Dubai has announced plans to expand Al Maktoum International Airport, creating the largest airport in the world. The $35 billion project will eventually replace the existing Dubai International Airport, currently the busiest in the world for international traffic. The expanded airport, known as Dubai World Central, will cover over 27 square miles and feature five parallel runways, four terminals with 400 gates, and the capacity to handle up to 260 million passengers and 13 million tons of cargo annually. The first phase of construction is expected to be completed by 2034, with operations gradually transferring from Dubai International to Al Maktoum International. [Extracted from the article]

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a $271.8 million award to the Panama Canal Authority in a long-running legal battle over the concrete used in the construction of the canal's third lane expansion locks. The ruling came after the federal appeals court in Atlanta denied the consortium's request to vacate the award issued by an arbitration tribunal in 2020. The dispute centered around concrete standards, material data, and delays in securing approvals for new concrete mixes. The contractor consortium paid the damages but filed a lawsuit alleging conflicts of interest among members of the arbitration board. [Extracted from the article]

The article examines that Mexico and the seven western states rely on water from the Colorado River Basin struggle to contend with the present repercussions of a more than two-decade drought including federally imposed cuts to water supply in the coming year as they must also plan for a drier future exacerbated by the effects of climate change.

The article discusses that car crash accident which killed six construction workers, on March 22 when a car careened into a work zone along Baltimore's Interstate-695 Beltway. It mentions that impact caused the car to lose control and enter the work zone between concrete barriers. It discusses the accidental investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The article reports that following a severe damage caused by a large explosion on October 8, 2022, Russia is set to repair the Kerch Bridge, which links the country with the annexed Crimean Peninsula, by 2023. It mentions that Nizhneangarsktransstroy LLC has been assigned the repair work by the Russian cabinet on October 13, 2022. Russia's deputy prime minister for construction, Marat Khusnullin, informs about the completion of manufacturing of the first supports of the new bridge.

The article informs California's last operating nuclear power plant, Diablo Canyon, located in San Luis Obispo County, has been given a new lease on life after Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law, allowing it to remain open past its scheduled 2025 shutdown date. The new law allows the plant to operate through 2030 and provides its owner and operator, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. with a $1.4-billion loan from the state to keep it running.

The article informs a $445-million proposal to remove four dams from the Klamath River, California, to restore salmon habitats received the support of the U.S. federal regulators with the release of the project's final environmental impact statement. Three dams are located in Northern California and one is in southern Oregon. Mentions the removal would be the largest dam demolition effort ever undertaken in U.S. history, as currently planned.

The article discusses plan for transforming 51-mile Los Angeles River into a public open space and urban habit in next 25 years.

The article discusses award of 235-million U.S. Dollar progressive design-build contract given to the Kiewit Shea Traylor-led joint venture by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority to link the agency's rail system to Bay Area Rapid Transit via a tunnel under downtown San Jose, California.

The article offers information on a Texas toll road operator has turned to the sky for solutions to a very down-to-earth problem: roadway maintenance. It discusses that the State Highway 130 Concession Co. is using satellite technology to monitor a 41-mile southern section of SH130—one of the first such uses in the U.S; and mentions that InSAR images are produced by comparing multiple measurements over time and creating maps called interferograms.

The article reports that investigators with the Ventura County Fire Department are working to determine the cause of a fire that consumed a hotel under construction in Camarillo, California on April 12, 2022.

The article presents the discussion on emergence of low-carbon solutions helping in changing the calculus of cement's creation. Topics include construction striving for meeting emissions standards, a persistent obstacle is the carbon-intensive process producing cement; and production process for cement requiring grinding and heating limestone in industrial kilns.

The article informs about effort to bolster flood control in northeast Houston through improvements to the Lake Houston dam have been scaled back due to financial constraints. Topics include Houston officials say that the length of proposed floodgates will need to be reduced by half to meet the project's budget; and funded by a hazard mitigation grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The article informs that in recent years contractors have seen the advantages of employing light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology with unmanned aerial systems, also known as drones. LiDAR-equipped UAS are effective in surveying areas with uneven terrain difficult to survey traditionally, and the technology can see through dense vegetation for more accurate ground surveys.

The article informs that an ambitious 2-billion dollar effort by the Panama Canal Authority to address the historic waterway's dire freshwater supply issues has been restarted with a new tender expected to be released within two years. The agency's water management system program will consist of a portfolio of projects that provides a comprehensive solution to guarantee an adequate water supply.

The article focuses on the construction of a third shipping lane through the Panama Canal in Panama. It states that the third lane expansion involves building new locks that will accommodate new shipping vessels that almost three times the size of Panamax ships. It indicates that the new locks on the entrances will consist of trio chambers and water saving basins are being built adjacent to the locks that will reuse 60% of the fresh water used in the lock system.

The article reports on the Interoceanic Highway project in Peru and Brazil. The $1.5 billion highway project will cross the Andes. The project will include 1,000 kilometers of roads through the Peruvian Andes. The highest point of the road as it crosses the mountains is 5,000 meters. Peru is counting on the Interoceanic Highway as a means of opening up its long-neglected interior for development.

The article focuses on tunneling projects in Peru. A tunnel-boring machine named Pacha Mama is carving away at a 20.2-kilometer-long tunnel through the South American Continental Divide to deliver water to arid coastal farmland. On the other hand, an unshielded Robbins gripper TBM is being used for another project in the Andes area. Experts who analyzed the plan for design-build contractor La Concesionaria Trasvase Olmos S.A., comprise solely of the Brazilian engineering and construction giant Odebrecht.

The article focuses on the $1.3-billion InterOceanic Highway project being built across Brazil and southern Peru. When completed in 2010, the highway will create a 3,100-mile paved connection between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Conirsa, a consortium of several Peruvian firms led by the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht, has developed a number of unusual strategies to handle the high-altitude job, with its thin air and pervasive cold.