Free Republic

In August 2018, the Colorado Department of Transportation broke ground on Central 70, a massive five-year (at minimum) project intended to reimagine and revitalize a stretch of Interstate 70 through Denver — and construction on the I-270 flyover to eastbound I-70 will result in a large stretch of the highway being closed at 10 p.m. tonight and staying that way for the entire weekend. The timing of this temporary shutdown is noteworthy, given that it follows in the wake of a new national report that rips Central 70 and argues that rather than expanding the existing roadway, CDOT should tear...

After nearly 15 years of planning, hundreds of public comments, and a handful of lawsuits, a page turned Friday morning for a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 70 in north Denver.A slate of prominent transportation officials and politicians, including Gov. John Hickenlooper, formally broke ground on the $1.2 billion "Central 70" Project that will remake that section of freeway that officials call the lifeblood of the quickly growing Denver metro area."Without infrastructure, you can't grow. That's just a fact of life," Hickenlooper said after the event. "It's really building the foundation for the next 50 years of economic development for Colorado."Critics...

Do I hate to say, “I told you so“? Er … not really: Building tracks for the first section of California’s proposed high-speed rail line will cost $2.9 billion to $6.8 billion more than originally estimated, raising questions about the affordability of the nation’s most ambitious rail project at a time when its planning and finances are under fire.A 2009 business plan developed for the California High-Speed Authority, the entity overseeing the project, estimated costs at about $7.1 billion for the equivalent stretch of tracks. Officials say those estimates were made before detailed engineering work and feedback from communities along...

Wednesday opens a new chapter in the 16-year Bay Bridge saga, when regional politicians take the reins to oversee the project amid unanswered questions about why the public will pay twice — at unknown cost — for the same work. Specifically, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission will be asked to approve freshly repackaged bids to build the bridge's tower. Caltrans is expected to advertise the project the next day but has not released an official cost estimate. MTC's new role results from lengthy negotiations in the Capitol this year and the new law they produced. It means the Bay Area will...

SACRAMENTO - California's capital is packed with more than 1,000 lobbyists, but when people want to make something happen in Sacramento, they often turn instead to Bob White, a genial Republican maestro who helped elect Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. White has an advantage lobbyists don't. While registered influence peddlers must reveal whom they work for, White calls himself a strategist who doesn't directly push for changes in state policy. That legal distinction allows White to conceal who his corporate clients are, even though he and members of his consulting firm, California Strategies, go to bat for them by exploiting a loophole...

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Welds on the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge are not faulty as had been alleged by former welders who claimed the work was dangerously unsafe, the Federal Highway Administration said Wednesday. Private inspectors hired by the Federal Highway Administration have been cutting out sections of steel foundation work in the Bay Bridge to test for the allegedly faulty welding. The agency reported Wednesday it found no evidence of shoddy, unsafe welds. The FBI, the Federal Highway Administration and state attorney general's office began several weeks ago investigating allegations by former project welders that they...

The new Bay Bridge is riddled with defective welds, 15 welders told the Oakland Tribune in a nine-month investigation - allegations that could lead to criminal fraud charges. The welders' claims have prompted an FBI investigation. In the worst case, the federal probe could lead to tearing apart the bridge to see if it is structurally sound or needs to be rebuilt. The FBI began investigating allegations in February that welders were "encouraged or instructed to save time by producing substandard welds," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Mershon of the bureau's San Francisco division. The bureau is investigating...