Construction Industry News, April 30, 2019

Key Democrats, Trump Agree to Work on $2-Trillion Infrastructure Plan

In a move that could give momentum to the long search for infrastructure legislation, top congressional Democrats say that they and President Trump have agreed to pursue a “big and bold” bill providing $2 trillion over multiple years for highways, water projects and other infrastructure. But they didn’t immediately come up with a way to fund the ambitious package.

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Bullet Train Construction Delays Put State Funding for Other Infrastructure Projects in Jeopardy

Several top administrators working on the bullet train tell NBC Bay Area that the state is on the verge of potentially losing billions in federal grants for unrelated infrastructure projects like pothole maintenance and public transit upgrades, due to mismanagement of high speed rail. Investigative reporter Stephen Stock reports on a story that first aired April 29, 2019.

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Losing bidder’s protest could stall nearly $1B in border wall contracts

An unsuccessful bidder in the most recent $976 million award round of U.S.-Mexico border wall contracts has filed a formal protest with the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) claiming that the selection process was flawed, according to CNN. These were the first contracts funded by the military under President Donald Trump’s February national emergency declaration

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Illinois Tollway awards $229M in construction, engineering contracts

The board of directors for the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (Illinois Tollway) earlier this month awarded six construction and engineering contracts totaling $228.7 million, including one valued at $184.6 million for bridge reconstruction on the Tri-State Tollway.

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Struggling Astaldi Announces Defaults on Florida Highway Contracts

Astaldi Construction Corp. announced on March 28 that it was voluntarily defaulting on four contracts with the Florida Dept. of Transportation. Included among those was a $108.3-million contract covering the 3.5-mile-long Section 7A for the $1.6-billion Wekiva Parkwayproject. Astaldi’s default on that project comes nearly a year after the contractor commenced work on April 1, 2018.

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