The Roman Empire started expanding beyond the Italian peninsula in the 3rd Century B.C. By the second century AD, the Roman empire ranged from Britain’s Atlantic coast to Mesopotamia in the east (the current location of Iraq) and down to North Africa in the south. It is estimated that more than a 20% of the world’s population was under Rome's rule at the peak of the Empire's power. One legacy left behind from this great Empire are the ruins of many buildings, amphitheaters, roadways, seawalls, sewer systems, bridges, and aqueducts which are now historic sites scattered across Western Europe and other areas...
Bio concrete is a self-healing concrete designed to repair its own cracks. It was invented by a Dutch researcher, Hendrik Jonkers, at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Bio concrete is concrete with the addition of limestone producing bacteria utilizing a biochemical process called Microbially Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation (MICP). This article, written by Beacon Project Manager Myat Cyn, provides a great overview and introduction to this new technology...
Earlier this year, Mutual of Omaha and the Mayor of Omaha announced plans for a new $433-million skyscraper to be built in downtown Omaha. Although the project must still be formally approved by the Omaha City Council, many details about the project have been released by the city and Mutual of Omaha. The proposed tower (known as "Project Beacon") would be between 40 and 50 stories tall, up to 650 feet in height, with 800,000 square feet of office space and 2200 parking spaces. Depending on the final approved design, the tower could end up being the city's tallest building...
Even if you don't have Irish roots, St. Patrick's Day can be a great day to celebrate the end of the winter. Across the U.S., St. Patrick's Day means parades, parties, and "corned beef & cabbage" dinners. Downtown Chicago has one of the more unusual and famous traditions -- Every St. Patrick's Day the local plumbers union dyes part of the Chicago River emerald green. Members of Local 130 use 50+ lbs of vegetable dye mixed with water which then gets sprayed into the river from boats.
Beacon's team has consulted on some of the largest and most complex construction projects in the U.S. in recent years. However, our team also keeps abreast of other notable construction projects announced or underway. Beacon's Jim Bruno has compiled this summary of several interesting, large-scale projects planned and/or started in the U.S.
Wishing you the very best this Holiday Season. Click on the link below to find out how to view Beacon's Holiday E-Card...
In early June, Beacon Consulting Group joined with other members of the Philadelphia Surety Claims Association (PSCA) to contribute $10,000 to Philabundance, a charity committed to fighting hunger in the greater Philadelphia area. The PSCA donation will help to provide 20,000 meals to those in need in the Philadelphia area. Founded in 1984, Philabundance is a proud member of Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks leading the fight against hunger in the United States.
Billionaire Elon Musk founded The Boring Company (TBC) in December of 2016 with the goal of greatly reducing the cost of building tunnels and tunnel-based transportation systems. Part of his inspiration for entering into the business was his frustration with gridlock traffic in Los Angeles and the general limitations of the world's current "2-dimensional, road-based" transportation networks. The company's focus has been on developing tunneling methods and designs with which will speed up the tunnel construction process while greatly reducing costs.
The Chuo Shinkansen project is a magnetic levitation ("maglev") railway project currently underway in Japan, being built by the Central Japan Railway Company. While Japan is famous for its high-speed bullet trains (which have been in operation since 1964), this new maglev train line will reportedly cut rail travel time between Tokyo and Nagoya by 50% when completed in 2027. With trains traveling faster than 265 mph, this will decrease the time for the 178-mile trip to just 40 minutes.
Just for fun, in celebration of Halloween, we compiled accounts of construction sites & other places across the U.S. which are (or were) rumored to be haunted or cursed.
