September TxDOT Highway Letting Dates

The Texas Department of Transportation has scheduled its next highway letting for Sept. 9 and 10. Ninety-eight projects are approved to be let with an estimated total of $282,926,824.

A TxDOT report said projects may be added, advanced or delayed as deemed necessary.

PHA Bayport Project Calls for Small-business Subcontractor Participation

The Port of Houston Authority recently celebrated the groundbreaking for its new Bayport Container and Cruise Terminal with a ceremony at the industrial site. Built out in phases over 15 to 20 years to meet market demand, Bayport will have space for seven ships, a 378-acre container storage yard and a maximum capacity of about 2.3 million 20-ft. equivalent units (the standard of measurement in the maritime shipping industry). That's a 200 percent increase over the port's current container-handling capacity.

For the last 12 years, container throughput at Houston's port has risen at an average growth rate of more than 10 percent per year. Studies conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute predict a continued worldwide container growth rate of 7.2 percent through 2010. Currently, PHA handles 64 percent of the containerized cargo market along the U.S. Gulf, and 94 percent of the waterborne containers moving through Texas.

Completion of the first phase of Bayport-including 1,660 ft. of the ultimate 7,000-ft. wharf and approximately 65 acres of the ultimate 1,043-acre facility-is targeted for mid-2006.

Contracts totaling more than $180 million will be awarded for the first part of the project, with more than half packaged in contracts eligible for PHA's Small Business Development Program.

In May the PHA commission awarded a $62 million contract to San Antonio-based Zachry Construction Corp. for wharf construction and dredging. Zachry's bid for the contract also included a stated commitment to meet or exceed the PHA's requirements for promoting environmental quality, small business subcontractor participation and community outreach.

Zachry's plan calls for 49 percent small business subcontractor participation by Aviles Engineering Corp.; A-1 Hydromulch of Texas Inc.; Advancetech Systems 2 Inc.; A&N Consulting; BMT 2000 LP; Busby Associates Inc.; CRA Inc.; Emerald Standard Services Inc.; D'Ambra Construction Corp.; Great Bear Construction; Highway Pavement Specialties Inc.; LA Utilities Inc.; Miller Paving & Construction Inc.; Silva Contracting Co. Inc.; Ed Wilkinson, CPA; Jerry L. Driver Services; and Trinh Design.

"We are proud to be a part of not only such a monumental project that will so greatly affect Houston's future, but also proud to be a partner with the port and its way of doing business," said David Zachry, president of the civil group at Zachry Construction Corp.

TxDOT Releases Report on Texas Bridges

Texas is making progress in improving its more than 48,000 public bridges, but more work is needed, according to a recently released report.

TxDOTs 2003 Report on Texas Bridges found that 75 percent of all Texas bridges have a good condition rating, up 5 percent from 2000.

The report found that 15 percent of the bridges are functionally obsolete, meaning they do not meet current geometrical design standards and are not well suited to efficiently handle today's traffic volumes and types. Another 6 percent of the state's bridges are structurally deficient, meaning they will eventually be unable to handle the weight of today's heaviest vehicles or are frequently flooded or closed.

Four percent are classified as substandard for load-only bridges, meaning they are not structurally deficient or functionally obsolete but have a capacity less than the

maximum load permitted by state law. "Higher traffic volumes, heavier vehicles and an aging infrastructure mean we must continue to maintain, rehabilitate and in some cases replace Texas bridges," said

Mary Lou Ralls, TxDOT's bridge division director. Inspectors evaluate and rate all the bridges in Texas on all public roads at least every two years, with the most critical structures receiving an evaluation more frequently. At least once every five years, divers inspect the underwater foundation and columns.

Tracts near Hutto, Manor and Taylor have been dropped from consideration as possible locations for the Central Texas General Aviation Airport, but efforts will continue to find a site, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.

"After holding public meetings, it became obvious that most of the local residents are not in favor of a new airport in their area," said David Fulton, TxDOT aviation division director. "We still believe a new airport is important to Central Texas, and we will continue work to develop the facility."

Passed in 2001 by the Texas Legislature, House Bill 2522 instructed TxDOT to develop a new general aviation airport for Central Texas. That measure, an amendment to the state Transportation Code, stipulates that the new airport be approved by the local governmental entity before it can be developed.

The first phase of the site-selection study, completed in summer 2003, showed strong demand for a new general aviation airport in the seven-county Central Texas area. The study found that during the next 20 years at least 580 new aircraft will be located in Central Texas, with an additional 270,000 general aviation flights being conducted.

Houston-based Edwards Airfield Services Inc. recently completed installing runway lights at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport as part of a major runway expansion and rehabilitation project.

The company was one of several subcontractors hired by Houston-based general contractor W.W. Webber Inc. to help with the multiyear, multimillion-dollar project. Edwards Airfield Services is doing all runway and taxiway light electrical work.

The project included a new electrical vault, an airfield grounds and maintenance facility, a maintenance building and access roadway system, perimeter security fencing, two taxiway bridges, electrical installations and striping and painting.

The job involved laying asphalt compacted 2 in. thick between the ground and the final layer of concrete. The crew trenched through the asphalt and 10 in. of flint rock using a rented Vemeer T855 rockwheel hydrostatic trencher.

After the holes and trenches were cut, the conduit, cans, cable and transformers were installed. Once the electrical groundwork was in place, an additional asphalt bond breaker was added as well as 19 in. of concrete before the lights were installed.