Recently in Construction Category

DOT officials originally expected to have Interstate 40 cleared of debris after October's rockslide in March, but now the completion date is in late April. DOT's Chief Engineer of Operations Jon Nance said the harsh winter weather has delayed the project. Nance said because of the delays, several additional sites have been stabilized that could have been prone to another rockslide.

Repairs to a water facility caused some Boone residents to spend much of today without water.  City utility workers delivered notices last week to the Dogwood Road, Stadium Drive, Spring Street, Briarwood Drive and Poplar Summit area, telling residents that extensive repairs and updates are needed to the pumping station at Dogwood and Poplar Hill Drive, and to the water mains in the area.  Water was cut off in the area around 9am with hopes to have the work completed by mid afternoon. For information, residents can call 268-6250.

Cycling enthusiasts turned out Tuesday night to support the county's development of a large outdoor-recreation and trail facility east of Boone. The Watauga County Board of Commissioners held a public hearing on the grant application for Rocky Knob Park, under development with funding from local room taxes and a county land contribution. The grant, if received from the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, would help fund the acquisition of 45 acres to add to 131 acres already owned by the county near the former landfill. The county's Tourism Development Authority would contribute the $500,000 match required for the grant. The TDA has said the park will help solidify the county's position as a travel destination, supporting it as a way to promote tourism while spending the tax revenue that's designed to boost lodging.

DOT crews are continuing work on the I-40 rockslide cleanup project. DOT officials said crews also continued putting the bolts into in the foot of the mountain.  These bolts range in size from 55 feet to 130 feet in length. A helicopter arrived today to bring the assembled bolts to the top of the mountainside. Officials hope to reopen the interstate sometime in March.  In the meantime, travelers must take the marked detour around the rockslide.

The recession that's affected the housing market has also led to declining home construction in Boone, though the decline has been less steep than in the rest of the county. Last year, 18 single-family homes were permitted, with an average value of $227,000. Those figures include both the town limits and the extraterritorial jurisdiction, which is regulated by the town's Department of Developmental Services. Six multi-unit residential buildings were permitted last year, totaling 69 housing units, at an estimated value of $7.36 million. Total residential construction actually increased over 2008's figures, despite a lingering recession that began in late 2008.

Frigid temperatures have stopped work on the widening of U.S. 421.

Frank Gioscio, resident engineer for the N.C. Department of Transportation in the area, said the temperatures have caused more delays than the snow. Wind chills in the minus 10- to 20-degree range have caused the project to come to a complete stop. Gioscio said the snow can be scraped from the road and work can continue but the bitter cold is the primary cause for delays. It is not only for the safety of the workers, but also how the cold affects the equipment used. The large equipment becomes difficult to start in such low temperatures and starting it can cause damage to the engines. The project began in June to widened to six-lanes divided by a median from Grove Street, just east of N.C. 194, to U.S. 221/N.C. 105. The section of U.S. 421 (King Street) will be four lanes divided by a concrete median.

Boone Mayor Loretta Clawson released a statement publicly thanking all the working crews for their effort and sacrifices to protect the life, safety, and property of Boone's residents and visitors. Mayor Clawson said these individuals worked around the clock to restore power, clear roads, and remove debris throughout the county. Clawson said she is especially grateful to Town of Boone employees for their unselfish commitment and work over the past two weeks.  She said some worked as many as 14 days without a break. Town of Boone crews have already removed over 200 truck loads of debris and will again begin removing debris as soon as they are able to stop clearing snow from streets and sidewalks.

Just when you thought you knew what the world's tallest building was, prepare to be blown away. The Arab emirate's colossal, multibillion-dollar skyscraper, Burj Dubai/Khalifa, opens for business Monday, stretching 168 stories, with 24,348 glass panels, and 2,716 feet into the desert sky. This building literally has it all. Burj Dubai boasts a towering list of superlatives including: the world's tallest building, the world's tallest free-standing structure, the world's highest occupied floor, the world's highest outdoor observation deck (on the 123rd floor), and the world's longest-traveling elevator (1,640 feet, traveled in two minutes). Burj Dubai is so tall, that the outside air temperature at the top can be as much as 15 degrees cooler than at ground level.

Counting the spire and its podium together, Burj Dubai contains 5 million square feet of floor space, which is actually less than Chicago's Willis (formerly Sears) Tower, the former champion that now ranks No. 5 in the world. (The other tallest buildings, in order, are Taipei 101 in Taiwan, Shanghai World Financial Center in China and Petronas Towers 1 and 2 in Malaysia, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the world's arbiter of building height.) Its design inspired by a desert flower, Burj Dubai is built in a "Y" footprint with three wings; each buttresses the others. At the center is a six-sided concrete hub tying it all together. Included in the structure is the tower's seven-star Armani Hotel, with 160 guest rooms and suites across 10 stories. The 430,000-square-foot hotel, designed and furnished by Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani, features eight restaurants, a spa, swimming pool, library, fitness center and business center, as well as 30,000 square feet of conference and banquet space on "mirror-smooth marble floors," according to the Armani corporate Web site. Armani also has 160 permanent residence suites in the tower, along with a number of high-end shops and boutiques.

Burj Dubai is the extremely tall centerpiece of a massive development that includes five hotels, a huge shopping mall, at least 150 restaurants and 1,200 shops. Entertainment options include the ski resort, an Olympic-size ice skating rink, a 4.6 million-gallon walk-through aquarium, a SEGA game theme park and KidZania, an 80,000-square-foot play village for children. Set in a 30-acre lake that seems incongruous if not impossible in the Arabian desert is the 900-foot-long Dubai Fountain, with nozzles that shoot 22,000 gallons of water as high as a 50-story building. It was designed by the same company that built the fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada. The entire Burj district -- tower, mall, hotels, restaurants -- shares a single cooling system, bringing significant energy economies. Also, engineers took advantage of Dubai's torrid heat and humidity by having the skyscraper's chilled-water piping double as a condenser to produce thousands of gallons of fresh water for irrigation, according to George Efstathiou, Burj Dubai's lead architect and managing partner for the Chicago, Illinois, architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. 

The site of the new Watauga High School remains an active construction area and is not yet open to visitors. It remains a "No Trespassing" area until construction is completed next spring. This applies to school system personnel as well as the general public. It is possible to view the site without entering the high school property. The new building and most of the site can be seen from Hilltop Drive off of Cecil Miller Road. You can park briefly in front of the apartments there, above the new baseball/softball fields, and get a good perspective on the project. You can also view construction progress through a blog online at whs2010.blogspot.com/.

The closure of U.S. 321 from Kirby Mountain Road to Waterfalls Road in Caldwell County has been extended through the weekend. As of Thursday morning, a spokesperson for the D.O.T said the closure could be extended through Wednesday of next week. On Monday, engineers examined the area and determined several boulders needed to be removed for safety purposes. Blasting has been taking place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 2 p.m. for the widening of the road between Blowing Rock and Lenoir. Engineers stated a road slide was likely and opted to close the road while construction crews blast and remove the boulders to stabilize the area. Motorists traveling toward Lenoir are advised to travel south on U.S. 421 into Wilkes County and connect to N.C. 18 toward Lenoir to avoid the closed area. The detour is marked.