Hello everyone!

I just wanted to put up a post of a great resource for some public jobs. Hopefully there are some jobs there that our clients can get.

Happy bidding!!



BidSource

PITTSFIELD, Maine (AP) — The latest in bridge construction technology goes unnoticed by drivers zipping over a two-lane highway that carves through the countryside of central Maine.

The 35-foot-long Neal Bridge on Route 11 is the first in the nation to use a process developed at the University of Maine that's dubbed "bridge in a backpack" because the materials used to make the arches can be carried to the site in duffel bags.

Once at the site, a light, durable fabric that folds as easily as a pair of pants is filled with concrete to form arches that will support the span. They're installed in a matter of days or even hours, instead of weeks. The process is being touted as a way to cut costs and lengthen the life expectancy of bridges. "Instead of having problems in 20 years, you won't have problems until 40 years," said Habib Dagher, director of the university's Advanced Structures and Composites Center. "This could be 100-plus years of performance." Contributing to the interest in higher-performing bridges was the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge — a 40-year-old steel-supported structure in Minneapolis — which killed 13 people and injured dozens during rush hour on Aug. 1, 2007. "Everybody is much more aware today of our decaying infrastructure and our need for involvement," said Brit Svoboda, president of a Florida company that hopes to commercialize the concept. There are thousands of highway bridges in the U.S., virtually all of which are made of concrete or steel. But when it came time to replace the 70-year-old Neal Bridge, the Maine Department of Transportation decided to try the new method. University workers put together 23 fabric arches that were cut to a pattern, inflated and coated with resin to retain their shape, Dagher said. They were then taken to the site, put into place and filled with concrete — all in a day. The fabric is made of composite materials, often a blend of carbon or glass fibers, which reduce construction time and costs, Dagher said. After the arches were installed, a lightweight deck was bolted on top of them and covered with sand. Asphalt was then laid on top of the sand. The department plans to build six more bridges in the next two years using the same technology. On future projects, the arches will be rolled up and carried in gym-style duffel bags in the backs of pickup trucks, then inflated at the construction sites. Much of the on-site preparation work will be eliminated, and trucks won't be needed to haul heavy beams. Concrete trucks still would be needed, though, for filling the inflated arches. The materials have been making inroads in both bridge construction and repair, said John Busel of the American Composites Manufacturers Association in Arlington, Va. But the idea of building bridges with composite arches that are inflated on site is new. It'll take time to convince bridge designers and government transportation officials that the approach is viable, he said. That's what has happened with other products. Light, strong and corrosion-resistant, composite materials are now used in hundreds of everyday items from golf clubs to boats to cars. "Slowly and surely it's happening," Busel said. The materials also have been shown to significantly outlast steel or concrete because they don't corrode. Testing has shown that bridges made out of composite materials could last twice as long as concrete or steel bridges, Dagher said. The idea has caught the attention of two business partners in Florida, who formed a company called Advanced Infrastructure Technologies LLC to take the concept to market. The company has been hearing from engineers and state transportation officials who are interested in learning more, said Svoboda, the CEO and president, from his office in Naples, Fla. The firm expects to spend $8 million to $10 million in the next couple of years on the project, he said. Peter Vigue, chairman and CEO of the Cianbro Cos., said the approach provides advantages in construction speed and cost, especially for smaller bridges. Cianbro has construction projects in about 15 states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The biggest obstacle for it to catch on is convincing bridge designers and state transportation officials that it's a viable approach, he said. "It's incumbent on people in the industry to build better structures that can be done faster and in a less expensive way," he said. "I think this is one of those potential solutions."

CLARKE CANFIELD Associated Press Writer

Americas Watchdog, its Corporate Whistle Blower Center, & its Homeowners Consumer Center have been investigating national and regional homebuilders using undocumented construction workers, in what the group calls the worst cases of tax fraud in US history. "The national or regional homebuilders forgot to pay any federal or state taxes on over a million undocumented workers, by using a 1099 subcontractor tax scheme." The group says,"for those of you in Florida, Texas, the Gulf States, The East & West Coast, you are all about to discover, that thousands of undocumented workers installed toxic Chinese drywall in 100,000's of thousands of new, or remodeled US homes, & they could not say anything about it, out of fear of losing their job." Americas Watchdog would like to hear from construction superintendents, or residential project managers who have substantial proof of national or regional homebuilders not paying taxes, on undocumented construction workers. Americas Watchdog contact is 866-714-6466, or contact the group via their web site atHttp://HomeownersConsumerCenter.Com
(PRWEB) April 6, 2009 -- Americas Watchdog, its Corporate Whistle Blower Center & its Homeowners Consumer Center have been warning as far back as 2005, that national & regional US homebuilders were using millions of undocumented illegal aliens to build our nations homes, and for the most part not paying federal, or state taxes on the workers. Before the toxic Chinese drywall issue was discovered in 2008, Americas Watchdog called for construction defect attorneys nationwide to contact the group, fearing millions of defective homes in the US, that would leave innocent homeowners holding the bag on a house that was defective.

Had US citizens, or organized labor built these homes the Chinese toxic drywall, the toxix drywall issue that is raging in Florida, and will soon engulf the nation, may have been avoided. The criminal part of all of this is that, the national, or regional homebuilders used undocumented workers to build most of our nations housing since 2000, because they were cheap, because the workers did not care about federal labor laws, and rarely did the homebuilder, or their subcontractors withhold Federal or state taxes on what were clearly undocumented workers. Construction superintendents or residential project managers with substantial proof of the 1099 coyote subcontractor scheme should contact Americas Watchdog for participation in a reward program by calling 866-714-6466, or contacting the group via their web site atHttp://HomeownersConsumerCenter.Com



How did the homebuilders get away with this? The homebuilders actual sub-contractors would set up phoney sub contractor groups, that were framers, dry wall hangers, roofers, cement finishers, electricians, painters, etc. This involved over a million undocumented Mexican, or Central Americans, all with phoney Social Security numbers, no real ID, they would be paid cash, and rarely if ever, did any of these workers or their homebuilder employers pay any state or federal taxes on the workers. "This scheme has cost the US taxpayers tens, and tens, and tens of billions of dollars, and as of yet their have been no widespread prosecutions."

"In 2006, Americas Watchdog met with an senior IRS special agent in Los Angeles, we presented her with proof, offered to take IRS teams to Arizona, Florida & Texas, and she acted like we were speaking Martian. The IRS had no interest." Now there are over 100,000 new homes in Florida that are worthless, because undocumented workers installed toxic Chine drywall in them & said nothing out of fear the homebuilder would fire them.

"So now we have hundreds of thousands of new US homes, or remodeled homes built in the US since 2001 and the men who installed the toxic Chinese drywall, could not say anything about the fact it was bad, out of fear of being fired, or worse. In the case of Florida alone its not 20,000 or 30,000 new homes, its more like 100,000+ new homes, and that is just one state. Americas Watchdog expects to find the same kind of staggering numbers of toxic drywall houses in Texas the American Southwest California, Nevada & Arizona), the Mountain west (Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Idaho), the entire East Coast & the Homebuilders paid no taxes on the majority of the undocumented workers & the IRS did nothing, even though they were told about it as far back as 2005, when most of the toxic Chinese drywall was being installed. "Again if US citizens, or organized labor would have been installing this toxic Chinese drywall, we think they would have refused to install it, because it frequently smelled bad, it would have made the workers sick, and it did not cut or hang like US made drywall."

"So now we have two really big problems, we have hundreds of thousands of possibly toxic new or remodeled homes, that have toxic Chinese drywall in them, if the installation occurred after 2000, & we have national & regional homebuilders who forgot to withhold federal or state taxes on the illegal/undocumented workers because they used a 1099 subcontractor scam to avoid paying these taxes." Americas Watchdog warned about this as far back as 2005 & the US IRS did nothing. Americas Watchdog warned about undocumented workers & possible construction defects nationwide as far back as 2005 & no one listened. "To repeat now we have possible hundreds of thousands of new or remodeled homes with toxic Chinese drywall, that are all but worthless, and a federal government including the US EPA or the US IRS that have yet to do a thing."

Americas Watchdog & its Homeowners Consumer Center will give its full cooperation to the US IRS & EPA to help in this national environmental disaster,and the worst cases of tax fraud in US history. Former or current residential construction superintendents or project managers who have specific information about the 1099 tax fraud scam with national or regional homebuilders should contact the Homeowners Consumer Center for a possible reward at 866-714-6466, or contact the group via their web site at
Http://HomeownersConsumerCenter.Com

If you live in a home that pssible has toxic Chinese drywall in it please contact the Homeowners Consumer Center at 866-714-6466 or contact the group via their web site at
Http://homeownersConsumerCenter.Com

Americas Watchdog & its Homeowners Consumer Center are all about homeowner, and taxpayer protection, as well as corporate integrity.


THOMAS MARTIN
Americas Watchdog
Http://HomeownersConsumerCenter.Com
866-714-6466

Americas Watchdog Blasts Homebuilders Who did Not Pay Taxes On Millions Of Undocumented Workers, Who Installed Toxic Chinese Drywall & Built Our Nations New Homes

Even in a slow economy a few large East Valley construction projects continue to rise.

Among examples are the $350 million Banner Desert Children's Hospital in Mesa, a $155 million Commercial Metals Co. steel mill in east Mesa and the $55 million Campo Verde High School in Gilbert.

Biggest of all, but not readily visible from the outside, is the $3 billion interior remodeling of Intel Corp.'s Ocotillo chip-making complex in Chandler.

Such projects are helping to carry the construction industry through hard times, and economic development officials say more is on the horizon.

"There has been a slowdown, but we're still seeing projects coming through the zoning process," said Chandler economic development specialist James Smith.

Here are a few of the major jobs that indicate construction hasn't stopped in the East Valley:

Banner Children's Hospital at Banner Desert Medical Center, Mesa - This seven-story expansion is changing the face of the Banner Desert medical complex at Dobson and Southern Avenue in Mesa.

Most of the construction work is expected to be completed this summer, but patients probably will not be admitted until November, said Nancy Neff, spokeswoman for Phoenix-based Banner Health.

"There is still a lot of work that has to be done to get people trained in the new facility," she said.

The project includes a new children's hospital tower with 248 beds, expansion of the pediatric and adult emergency department and expansion of cafeteria operations.

About 700 construction workers are at the site each day, Neff said.

Banner Corporate and Technology Center, Mesa - Another big Banner Health project at Country Club Drive and Brown Road, this one-time Mesa Lutheran Hospital complex is being remodeled into a corporate center that will house Banner financial services, human resources and other administrative offices. Also a new building will contain corporate computer operations.

About 300 to 400 workers are laboring on the project, which is expected to be completed in July.

Indian resorts and casinos, Chandler and Scottsdale - Two huge Indian hotel and casino projects are rising in the East Valley. A new $200 million, 10-story Wild Horse Pass Hotel and Casino is under construction at Interstate 10 and Wild Horse Pass Boulevard on the Gila River Indian Community. It will contain 242 hotel rooms, more than 1,000 slot machines, 44 blackjack tables and 25 poker tables. The project is scheduled for completion this fall.

Also soaring over the desert landscape is Casino Arizona's Talking Stick Resort off Loop 101 and Indian Bend Road on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. The $400 million project is providing about 1,000 construction jobs. When finished early next year it will include 497 rooms, a grand ballroom, 21 meeting rooms, swimming pools, spas, a showroom for live entertainment and a casino with a variety of slot machines and gaming tables.

Commercial Metals Co. steel mill, Mesa - Irving, Texas-based CMC is building a $155 million state-of-the-art micromill near Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport that will convert scrap steel into 280,000 tons of reinforcing bar annually for the construction industry.

The plant near Meridian and Germann roads will use a new type of production process developed by CMC with Danieli, an Italian steel producer.

Project Manager Andy Sarat said construction work is about 65 percent completed, and the mill will open in September. About 425 construction workers are at the site, he said.

General Manager Steve Henderson anticipates an economic recovery will spur demand for the mill's products when production is ready to fire up. "We are committed to completing and operating CMC Arizona," he said.

Intel retooling, Chandler - This massive two-year project was announced in early February, and Intel has started the first phase - decommissioning existing equipment to prepare for installing new tools to make the latest microprocessors.

As part of the remodeling, two existing fabs at the company's Ocotillo and Dobson Road complex will be merged into a single "mega-fab."

The work is expected to be completed in late 2010.

About 1,500 workers will be needed to handle the retrofitting work, and the company expects to be able to recruit many of them locally, said Intel spokeswoman Dawn Jones.

Orbital Sciences Corp. expansion, Chandler - The Virginia-based rocket maker will open an 82,000-square-foot expansion at Price and Dobson roads this summer.

The new building across the street from Orbital's existing manufacturing complex in the Price industrial corridor, is being built by Gilbane Development Corp. and will be occupied by Orbital under a long-term lease. The building will provide office and engineering space for about 300 employees.

Orbital officials said they need the additional space to develop the new Taurus II rocket, which will help to resupply the International Space Station under a contract with NASA.

Campo Verde High School, Gilbert - One of the few large construction jobs in Gilbert, this high school on Germann Road between Val Vista Drive and Lindsay Road is expected to be completed in time for the first day of fall classes on Aug. 10.

In fact, construction work is 1 1/2 months ahead of schedule, said Dave Allison, superintendent of the Gilbert Public Schools.

At the peak of construction six months ago, about 200 workers were on the job, he said. There are still more than 100 doing finishing work, he said.

Regardless of the slowdown in the district's population growth, the project is needed to relieve overcrowding at other Gilbert high schools, Allison said.

HealthSouth rehab hospital, Mesa - This $20 million project by Birmingham, Ala.-based HealthSouth is going up at the 132-acre Arizona Health and Technology Park near Baseline and Recker roads.

When completed in July, it will contain 40 beds and provide inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services for those who have suffered fractures, strokes, spinal chord and other injuries.

HealthSouth is going ahead with the project because planners believe there is a shortage of rehab beds in the area, said Richard Schulz, regional vice president of operations.

ED TAYLOR, TRIBUNE
March 24, 2009 - 2:34PM

March 12, 2009

Gaylord gets OK for resort in ArizonaBy Wendy Lee THE TENNESSEAN
Gaylord Entertainment Co. received the green light from Mesa, Ariz., residents to build a resort and convention center there after voters approved giving the Nashville-based company a $44 million hotel bed tax incentive package this week.
The incentive package was part of a proposition approved by 84 percent of Mesa voters, in a special election Tuesday, according to unofficial election results.
Gaylord said it would build an estimated 1,200- to 1,500-room hotel with more than 200,000 square feet of meeting space. The cost has been estimated at more than $750 million.
The hotel chain has not locked in a specific development schedule yet.
In order to receive the tax incentives, Gaylord would need to complete construction by Dec. 31, 2014, according to the City of Mesa. Gaylord's hotel and convention center would be part of a larger development by Scottsdale-based DMB Associates to include venues such as another hotel and golf course.
The incentives will give Gaylord 2 percent of the city's 3 percent hotel bed tax, money that will be used to promote the Gaylord property and the Southeast Mesa region for tourism.
Some analysts said the Mesa vote gives Gaylord a chance to expand its business at a time when construction costs could be cheaper.
"Phoenix historically (has) been a high demand convention market and is today in a position to benefit from larger than normal municipal concessions and lower construction costs," wrote Jeffrey Donnelly, a senior analyst with Wachovia Capital Markets in a research note.
Donnelly said he suspects Gaylord's logic is for minimal capital expenditures in 2009 to 2011 and to line up future growth opportunities to enhance value.
Timing could also work in Gaylord's favor, said Michael Hughes, vice president of research and consulting for Tradeshow Week magazine.
The convention and meeting industry experienced a slowdown in the third and fourth quarters last year, but it's likely that two years later the marketplace will turn around, Hughes said.
"If they were to open it within that time frame, I think that could be good timing," Hughes said. "The meetings industry should be pretty healthy and growing by then."
Gaylord's stock closed at $5.94 a share, up 2 cents, in trading on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Federal cash to widen I-10, I-17
State decides how $350 mil for highways will be spent

by Ronald J. Hansen - Mar. 4, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Congested stretches of four highways in Maricopa County will get an extra lane, using money from President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus package.
Adding lanes to Interstates 10 and 17 are at the top of the county's list of priority projects unanimously approved Tuesday by the State Transportation Board. The county's $129 million spending plan primarily targets existing roads in the West Valley.
Some officials in the county were disappointed that they didn't get more than 37 percent of the state's $350 million share of the highway-stimulus dollars. Officials in rural Arizona were thrilled with the $175 million that will be divided among 13 counties. Pima County will get $45 million, or 13 percent of the funds. The money was allocated according to the state's decades-old funding formula, though Maricopa County officials had urged the state to use a different approach more reflective of the economic downturn.

Hopefully there will be more of this to come! - Tom



Council OKs $35M stimulus plan Nearly 300 new jobs would be created in Flagstaff, largely by accelerated flood control construction and street overlays.
By JOE FERGUSON
Sun Staff Reporter
Monday, February 09, 2009


The city of Flagstaff isn't waiting for the billions of dollars headed to Arizona as part of the federal stimulus package.

The Flagstaff City Council has green-lighted a plan formulated by City Manager Kevin Burke to inject nearly $35 million into the local economy.

The local stimulus package includes accelerating Rio de Flag flood control construction and a major streets maintenance program, injecting an additional $250,000 into new tourism marketing, handing out tax and rebate incentives for energy-efficient home upgrades and offering a tax holiday for the purchase of fuel-efficient vehicles at local dealerships.

To finance the stimulus program, the city is relying on three funding sources: federal funding, reprioritizing funds in the city's capital program and bonding for some programs. These are funds that cannot be used to cover the city's $13 million operating budget shortfall next year.

If all programs are funded, Burke estimates the local stimulus program would generate 290 new jobs, $13 million in wages, $2 million in additional tourism spending and $5.3 million in community spending.

The largest portion of the stimulus program would be in the injection of $23 million in mostly federal funds to complete the Rio De Flag flood control program. The city is currently seeking roughly $8 million from Congress to jump-start the open channel portion of the Rio project near downtown to start later this year.

The impact of the program is expected to give a much-needed boost to the city's construction industry, which is down by 25 percent, based on city sales tax revenues.

Federal funds would also pay for 500 home weatherization kits and rebates for the purchase of energy- efficient appliances.

The city would pour roughly $10 million into a street overlay project, which would address identified deficiencies in local roads. The city would also jump-start plans for a $1.9 million improvement along Industrial Drive and a $600,000 upgrade of the West and Sixth Street intersection.

In order to pay for the overlay project, the city would delay planned future projects identified in the city's five-year capital plans.

Burke did not identify any special project that would be indefinitely delayed by the stimulus plan.

City officials believe local contractors would benefit from the start of the flood control project. City codes do not allow for a local preference for the developer chosen for the project, but officials can require that a certain percent of subcontractors be local.

The city would also inject up to $250,000 into new tourism marketing, which Burke says will generate $8.22 for every dollar spent.

One suggestion by Burke, helping to finance the construction of 16 homes in the city land trust at a cost of $2.4 million, was rejected by the Council.

Several openly worried that building homes in the current market would be unwise.

The council also amended a suggestion by Burke to offer a waiver of the local sales tax on the sales of hybrid fuel vehicles. The waiver has been extended to high-efficiency vehicles instead, allowing the stimulus to be extended to all local car dealers - not just those that have hybrid vehicles.

Burke said the goal of the stimulus plan would be to curb the rising local jobless rate.

Non-seasonally adjusted unemployment figures for December topped 6.4 percent for the Flagstaff metropolitan statistical area, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. A year ago, the unemployment rate was 4.6 percent.

The city has dramatic drops in specific sectors, said Burke. He cited several figures through last November.

-- Construction is down 25 percent

-- Auto sales are down 37 percent

-- Sales at Big Box stores are down 6.5 percent

Figures for December have not been released to the public, but Burke has reviewed preliminary figures for the holiday month.

"It is just as bad as November's," Burke said.

But not all sectors are performing poorly. Revenue from the city's bed, board and beverage tax was down by only 1 percent from last year's figures.

Joe Ferguson can be reached at jferguson@azdailysun.com.