Turner Industries receives national recognition for safety excellence

Turner Industries Group LLC of Baton Rouge has captured national recognition, winning a Construction Users Round Table Safety Excellence Award (CURT/CISE). The awards were developed by CURT to recognize commendable safety performance of individual constructor firms over a sustained time period.

CURT announced the awards and made the presentations at its 2005 National Construction Conference in Naples, Fla., in November. Turner was recognized in the Heavy Construction Category.

"These awards, given annually, seek to highlight the achievement of companies that have created world class construction site safety programs and have shown a dedication to the concept of promoting zero injury construction," said Dr. Ron G. Prichard of Arcanum Professional Services and chairman of the CISE Awards Committee.

CURT is an association of leading corporations in the United States and Canada, dedicated to the promotion of cost effective construction methods.

Gilchrist lands largest DOTD project at recent bid opening

The Louisiana Dept. of Transportation and Development considered bids totaling over $143 million at its December public bid opening.

With a bid of $19,893,959, Gilchrist Construction Co. LLC of Alexandria was the apparent low bidder on the state's most expensive job, a project in Sabine Parish calling for grading, drainage structures, lime treatment, class II base course, Portland cement concrete pavement, Superpave asphaltic concrete pavement, concrete slab span bridges and related work on U.S. 171, La. 120, La. 1216 and La. 3229 for state routes in Zwolle.

Shreve Land receives contracts for multi-family residential projects

Shreve Land Construction of Shreveport recently broke ground on the Magnolia Trace Apartment Homes in Alexandria. This 208-unit community will include a leasing building with clubhouse, pool, playground, car wash, mail kiosk and 80 carports.

Site work started in November and the scheduled completion date is January. Magnolia Trace is the seventh multifamily residential project Shreve Land has built for this client.

Shreve Land Construction, a division of Brice Building Co., is a commercial general contractor based in Shreveport since 1967.

DOTD, James Construction sign agreement to finish Picardy project by December

The Louisiana Dept. of Transportation and Development and James Construction Group LLC (JCG) have reached an agreement that will enable the I-10/Picardy Avenue Interchange project between Bluebonnet and Siegen boulevards to be completed by December.

Construction on the project, which will accommodate traffic to retail shopping areas on Bluebonnet and Siegen, was temporarily suspended in part in June when DOTD engineers discovered settling problems with the Picardy South retaining wall that was to support an approach ramp to an I-10 overpass.

Since then, the wall was deconstructed to 12 ft. and work on the Picardy North wall was halted. Stability berms have been added to both walls, the internal design has been re-engineered and rebuilding of the Picardy South wall will soon begin.

DOTD and the Baton Rouge-based general contractor have agreed to split the extra cost of mitigation associated with construction problems, including the Picardy retaining walls, and release each other from claims relative to those walls. However, DOTD reserves the right to seek damages from third parties.

As part of the agreement to regain lost time, DOTD has agreed to split the estimated additional $2.01 million it will take for James to immediately place additional resources on the job to meet the December deadline.

From Devastation to Operation in 50 days

Dean Hart Construction LLC of West Monroe, a design-build commercial contractor, was recently chosen by UPS Corporate to rebuild its 100,000-sq.-ft. UPS New Orleans HUB located on Morrison Avenue just south of the Lakefront Airport and bordering the Industrial Canal.

The company also completed 50,000 sq. ft. of office space in Elmwood Park, Harahan, for Sealy Reality in the same amount of time.

Dean Hart Construction also has offices in Lafayette and New Orleans.

J. Ray McDermott Morgan City facility awarded jacket, deck fabrication

J. Ray McDermott, a subsidiary of McDermott International Inc., announced recently that it has been awarded a contract by Seneca Resources Corp. for the design engineering, procurement, structural fabrication, process outfitting and load-out of a three-pile jacket and deck.

The contract is expected to be completed by May.

Components of the turnkey proposal include the jacket, deck with process facilities, piles and heliport. Pinnacle Engineering will provide the detail design and equipment procurement as the principle subcontractor working with J. Ray on the turnkey contract.

The completed facility will be installed in approximately 124 ft. of water in Viosca Knoll Block 432.

J. Ray's Morgan City fabrication facility was established in 1956 and for over five decades has been the construction site for some of the offshore industry's most significant projects.

AGC awards nearly $400,000 to victims of Hurricane Katrina

The Associated General Contractors of America recently announced that it is distributing nearly $400,000, raised through AGC's Hurricane Katrina Construction Workers Fund, to Gulf Coast construction craft workers devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

"These donations are just a small expression of our sympathy," said AGC President Sam Hunter at a check presentation to employees at Barriere Construction Co. of New Orleans. "We hope this relief fund will offer some peace of mind to those who have suffered."

Barriere employees were among those in the region to receive donations from AGC's Hurricane Katrina Construction Workers Fund.

"We are grateful to AGC of America and the Louisiana Chapter of AGC for coming together to help craft workers at Barriere and other AGC firms from the affected areas," said Barriere Construction President George Wilson. "Many of the craft workers in the area have been displaced from their homes and apartments, but have returned to work."

DOTD accepts bid on first phase of La. 1 project

The Louisiana Dept. of Transportation and Development announced recently that it will accept a $141 million low bid by Massman Construction/Traylor Brothers Joint Venture for the first of three phases on a new La. 1 toll road and bridge in lower Lafourche and Jefferson parishes.

The overall La. 1 project consists of three phases; the approaches to the Bayou Lafourche crossing, the actual bridge over Bayou Lafourche and the elevated roadway from Bayou Lafourche to Port Fourchon. Bids for the bridge construction will be received Feb. 22, and bids for the roadway will be received this summer, DOTD Undersecretary Michael Bridges said.

The low bid was 35 percent higher than DOTD's estimate on the project. Rising costs of manpower, equipment and supplies, combined with an overabundance of both scheduled large bridge projects and post-Katrina repair and replacement projects, are driving up the cost of construction across the southeastern United States. Bridges said the agency decided to accept the La. 1 bid to get the project started as quickly as possible.

In addition to the La. 1 project, DOTD also is receiving bids in the next few months on a new Mississippi River bridge between St. Francisville and New Roads, the project to widen the Huey P. Long Bridge in Jefferson Parish and a new I-10 "twin-span" bridge over Lake Pontchartrain.

Meanwhile, costs are escalating sharply in the region.

"It's a case of supply and demand," Bridges said. "We were going to receive bids on the La. 1 elevated road from Bayou Lafourche to Port Fourchon this month, but we have decided to delay the bids until the summer to allow the construction market to stabilize and to see how the bids come in on St. Francisville and the 'twin spans.'"