CDC Awards $81 Million CM Contract to Skanska

Skanska USA Building recently reported it has been named construction manager for the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters and emergency operations building at the agency's Edward R. Roybal campus in Atlanta. Construction costs for the new 12-story, 360,000-sq.-ft. building are reported as $81 million.

Skanska's Georgia Division in Atlanta will oversee the project. The building will be the headquarters for CDC staff. Its data center will have redundant power and cooling systems and raised flooring for computer equipment. The exterior will feature architectural precast, curtainwall, sunshades, stacked stone and metal panels.

Construction is scheduled to be completed in mid-2005.

$24 Million I-75 Bridge Project Awarded to C.W. Matthews Contracting

The Georgia Department of Transportation recently awarded a contract to C.W. Matthews Contracting Co. of Marietta, Ga., to reconstruct the Interstate 75 interchange at Eagle's Landing Parkway/Hudson Bridge Road near Stockbridge.

The $24.1 million is scheduled to be finished by June 30, 2006.

"We are excited to get to work on a project that addresses a major congestion point in Henry County," Georgia DOT Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl said in announcing the project.

The interchange project will construct a new 11-lane bridge over I-75 and add lanes to the I-75 exit ramps to allow for more capacity as motorists exit the interstate. Lanes will also be added to Eagle's Landing Parkway and Hudson Bridge Road on both sides of the interstate, totaling almost 1.5 mi. of road widening.

Georgia Contract Activity Declines 6 Percent in November

McGraw-Hill Construction reported that the value of November contracts for future construction activity in Georgia dropped by 6 percent compared to the same time a year ago.

Nonresidential construction declined 27 percent, from $510.6 million last year to $371.8 million in the most recent month. Nonbuilding construction, such as highways, dropped 32 percent to $144.9 million from last year's $212 million. Residential construction, the largest sector, grew by 15 percent compared to November 2002.

Through November, the year's construction activity remains 3 percent behind the previous year's pace. The current total value of contracts for the year is $17.7 billion, compared to the $18.2 billion recorded last year.

Gwinnett Co. Awards Tunnel Design Contract to PB

The Gwinnett County Department of Public Utilities has awarded a contract to Parsons Brinckerhoff to design a new wastewater transport and storage tunnel adjacent to Snellville, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta.

The tunnel, which will be 12 ft. in diameter, will begin at the No Business Creek water-reclamation facility and extend for 16,000 ft. to the shaft at the site of the existing Jack's Creek water-reclamation facility. The project will enable the county to decommission the Jack's Creek facility by directing the sanitary flow from the Jack's Creek watershed to No Business Creek by gravity. The tunnel will collect sanitary flow from another watershed along its route, reducing power costs to the county by minimizing pumping.

The tunnel will be driven in rock with a dewatering pumping station in the mining shaft at No Business Creek. There will be two access shafts along the tunnel length with sanitary flow admitted to the system at the upper shaft, at one of the two intermediate access shafts, and at the dewatering pumping station. The upper shaft will also provide access and tunnel venting for odor control.

As the project's prime consultant, PB is responsible for preparing a preliminary engineering report and conducting public meetings on the proposed design. The firm will complete final design, assist the county with the bid-tendering process, and also provide construction management and engineering services during construction.

Construction is expected to begin in January 2005, with final completion scheduled for December 2007.