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Roadtechs applied Reclamite to the A1066 around Thetford Roadtechs, a UK manufacturer, supplier and installer of specialist surface treatments, is claiming a UK record by treating a 9km of trunk road with Reclamite in just under five hours. Reclamite is a spray applied rejuvenation treatment that reverses the detrimental impact of weather on our roads, preventing cracks and defects that lead to potholes. It is the only BBA HAPAS approved penetrative asphalt rejuvenator in the UK, Roadtechs says. Roadtechs treated and extended the life of the A1066 in Thetford, Norfolk, under a full road closure. In what is believed to be a UK first, the tankers worked in convoy to double the speed of application and treated 70,467 sqm with their special sauce, enabling the road to reopen less than five hours later, before the evening rush hour. Had the road been left to deteriorate, full resurfacing would have cost £3.7m with an 11-week full road closure. the tankers worked in convoy to double the speed of application Roadtechs general manager Adam Lilley said: “This is the biggest area of highway we’ve ever treated in a single shift. We’re proud to support Norfolk County Council in delivering sustainable, high-performance road maintenance. We appreciate the patience of local road users and the respect shown to our crews.” Cllr Graham Plant, Norfolk County Council cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport said: “We’ve been using Reclamite for several years to keep our roads in good condition, and this latest project shows just how effective and efficient it can be. By treating more surface area in a single shift, we’ve delivered best value for Norfolk’s residents – minimising disruption, reducing carbon emissions, and extending the life of our roads.” Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk Read More

Courtesy of Gateway Development Commission The Palisades Tunnel Project will construct the first mile of twin tunnels on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. Early work, including pile driving and installation of monitoring instruments, is in progress.  Manufacture of the tunnel boring machines that will excavate the first mile of the Gateway Project’s Hudson River tunnel in New Jersey is nearing completion, marking a major step toward launching in 2026, the Gateway Development Commission said Aug. 20.  The two Herrenknecht TBMs are 85% and 73% complete respectively, with the first unit expected to finish in the coming weeks and both completed by November. Following factory testing and acceptance this fall, the TBMs will be shipped to New Jersey, reassembled at the North Bergen launch site in preparation to begin tunneling next year. RELATED How Gateway Is Keeping Massive $16B Hudson Tunnel Project on Track “The start of tunnel boring next year will mark the beginning of a new chapter for the Hudson Tunnel Project,” New York GDC Commissioner and Co-Chair Alicia Glen, New Jersey GDC Commissioner and Co-Chair Balpreet Grewal-Virk, and GDC Amtrak Commissioner and Vice Chair Tony Coscia said in a joint statement. “We eagerly anticipate seeing these machines fully assembled and ready for launch next year.”  GDC CEO Tom Prendergast said that even with modern mechanized tunneling, “the process of building a concrete tube under a river is still a remarkable challenge,” noting the nearly two years of advance work to prepare for the machines’ arrival and the “thousands of people across multiple construction teams” working to keep the milestone on schedule. Preparing for Launch The TBMs will excavate two parallel tubes for roughly one mile from the portal at Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen to an access shaft in Hudson County. Each machine weighs 1,680 tons, with a cutterhead 28 ft, 8 in. in dia and trailing gantries stretching about 500 ft.  Tunnel Boring Machines are in production, and tunnel boring is expected to launch next year. Image: Herrenknecht Equipped with more than 1,000 sensors to track position, component wear, air quality and other metrics, the machines are expected to advance about 30 ft per day while installing precast concrete liners.  Accounting for planned maintenance—such as replacing worn cutterhead disks—the New Jersey drives are expected to take about a year.  GDC representatives plan to travel to the TBM factory this fall for testing and formal acceptance before shipment to New Jersey. After reassembly in North Bergen, the commission plans to start tunnel boring in 2026.  The machines are being built at Herrenknecht’s facilities in Germany. The manufacturer also has supplied TBMs for New York City’s East Side Access tunnels, Seattle’s SR 99 double-deck highway tunnel and numerous international metro projects.  By cutterhead size, the Hudson tunnel TBMs are smaller than the 57.5-ft-dia TBM “Bertha” that excavated Seattle’s SR 99 tunnel but larger than those used for East Side Access, which ranged from 22 ft to 26 ft in diameter. The Hudson tunnel TBM “twins” have yet to receive a nickname. RELATED Gateway Awards Contracts for Early Work on New Jersey Side of Hudson Rail Tunnel  Project’s Engineer of Record Renews Contract At the same meeting, the GDC board authorized a new contract with Gateway Trans Hudson Partnership Engineering, a joint venture of WSP, AECOM and STV, to serve as the engineer of record and provide engineering services during construction for the remaining Hudson Tunnel Project packages. The joint venture’s bid was the only one submitted to GDC, and has already been working on the project in this capacity under an earlier contract with Amtrak. Commissioners also approved a project labor agreement for the New Jersey Surface Alignment contract, setting uniform employment terms for contractors and subcontractors on that work.  The Hudson Tunnel Project—along with plans to rehabilitate the existing North River tunnels—anchors the broader Gateway Program to add resiliency and capacity on the Northeast Corridor, which carries more than 2,200 daily train movements and 800,000 passenger trips. Bryan Gottlieb is the online editor at Engineering News-Record (ENR). Gottlieb is a five-time Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism award winner with more than a decade of experience covering business, construction, and community issues. He has worked at Adweek, managed a community newsroom in Santa Monica, Calif., and reported on finance, law, and real estate for the San Diego Daily Transcript. He later served as editor-in-chief of the Detroit Metro Times and was managing editor at Roofing Contractor, where he helped shape national industry coverage. Gottlieb covers breaking news, large-scale infrastructure projects, new products and business email: gottliebb@enr.com | office: (248) 786-1591 Read More

Photo: Aaron Yoder/Getty Images An aerial view of a gas plant under construction, where any disruption can be costly and some means of calculating a claim are better than others, according to HKA’s new study. Inefficiencies and lost productivity caused by owners are harder for contractors to document than the more commonly understood delay claims, which concern matters that extend the time to complete a project. So making a claim for disruption, as opposed to delay, requires convincing proof and documentation. That is one of the key takeaways from a newly issued report from HKA, the claims consultant, the second it has published on disruption assessment. Numerous construction lawyers have weighed in on the subject, too, but HKA’s report, written by Partner Derek Nelson, has the international perspective that characterizes HKA’s practice and familiarity with courts and claims tribunals around the world.  Nelson, citing numerous studies of the subject, identifies a dozen different methods of quantifying lost productivity, with the most popular being Measured Mile, which compares disrupted pace of production to an undisrupted rate, and Earned Value, which measures progress against a planned schedule or budget. Nelson discusses the different methods in detail, including systems dynamics modeling, which was invented in the 1950s and shows the complex and varied repercussions of changes and additions to a project. Those include sustained use of overtime, fatigue, work errors and additional hiring that leads to dilutions of skills. Using data from the project in question, rather than from general studies of construction productivity, is best in formulating a claim. “…Project practice-based approaches whose calculations are drawn from the project records,” Nelson writes, “are expected to be more credible than alternative general approaches.” He cites a 2004 study published by the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering on lost labor productivity in construction claims.  Courts and other tribunals “prefer estimations of damages that are directly linked to the disputed project and supported by its contemporaneous documentation,” Nelson writes. “This again highlights the importance of keeping good records from the outset of the project,” he concludes, which allows the contractor to “reliably quantify and successfully claim for lost productivity” by showing that damages are associated with a cause. Deputy Editor Richard Korman helps run ENR’s business and legal news and investigations, selects ENR’s commentary and oversees editorial content on ENR.com. In 2023 the American Society of Business Publication Editors awarded Richard the Stephen Barr Award, the highest honor for a single feature story or investigation, for his story on the aftermath of a terrible auto crash in Kentucky in 2019, and in 2015 the American Business Media awarded him the Timothy White Award for investigations of surety fraud and workplace bullying. A member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Richard has been a fellow on drone safety with the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Richard’s freelance writing has appeared in the Seattle Times, the New York Times, Business Week and the websites of The Atlantic and Salon.com. He admires construction projects that finish on time and budget, compensate all team members fairly and record zero fatalities or serious injuries. Read More

Tyler, Texas, recently completed a $3.57-million water line extension to poultry producer John Soules Foods and is moving ahead with a sewer project to serve a planned 281-acre business park. Built with American Rescue Plan Act funding, the projects position one of the city’s largest employers for growth while also preparing undeveloped land for future tenants. City officials say the water line will eventually pay for itself thanks to premium rates charged to industrial users outside city limits. “By upgrading our water infrastructure, we support business expansion and strengthen the foundation for future development,” said Kate Dietz, director of utilities. Similar investments are appearing nationwide. State and local governments put more than $50.8 billion into sewage and waste disposal construction and $34.1 billion into water supply projects at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in June 2025, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Those figures represent increases of 83% and 75%, respectively, compared with June 2019, making water and sewer spending comparable in scale to bridge and school construction.  Federal labor statistics show payroll employment in water and sewer line construction reached about 220,000 earlier this year—roughly the same size as the U.S. highway and bridge construction workforce and up 16% since 2019, slightly faster growth than construction overall.  Jennifer Perkins, a senior government industry specialist at Brightly. Image courtesy of Siemens “With the future of federal funding uncertain, municipalities are moving quickly to put today’s dollars to work,” said Jennifer Perkins, senior government industry specialist at Brightly, a Siemens Smart Infrastructure company. “By front-loading investments in water, energy and broadband—and using asset technology and lifecycle data to model performance—local leaders can reduce failures, demonstrate ROI and make their systems ready for growth,” Perkins added. Analysts at Brookings note that local governments in the South devoted nearly 8% of their flexible ARPA allocations to water and sewer, more than double the share in other regions. “It’s become a playbook,” said Joseph Kane, infrastructure fellow at Brookings Metro, in a February report. “Localities are using federal recovery dollars and economic development funds to make sites shovel-ready, then recouping costs through utility rates or private investment.” Texas Projects Anchor the Strategy The Tyler project is one of several Texas examples funded in recent years. Since 2021, the U.S. Economic Development Administration has awarded millions to extend water and sewer lines into industrial parks across the state.  Since 2021, Texas communities have received more than $12 million in U.S. Economic Development Administration awards for water and sewer extensions at industrial sites, with activity peaking in 2024. DeKalb was among the earliest with a $2-million award in 2021 to overhaul utility infrastructure at a 36-acre site. Big Spring followed in 2022 with $3.3 million for wastewater improvements at the Crossroads Business Park. Paris received $1.3 million in 2023 for upgrades at its Northwest Industrial Park. In 2024, Copperas Cove secured $3.5 million for water, sewer and roadway improvements tied to semiconductor investment, while Yoakum received $2.5 million for new water and sewer lines at its industrial park. While Texas stands out for the number of awards in recent years, federal data show that the state’s overall share is largely a reflection of its size and economic weight. Per capita, smaller or more distressed states such as Montana, Iowa and West Virginia often receive more EDA funding relative to their population. However, Texas ranks among the top states in total dollars awarded. A National Playbook Emerges U.S. Census Bureau data show state and local governments nearly doubled annual water and sewer construction spending between 2019 and 2025, reaching levels comparable to bridge and school building programs. U.S. Census Bureau data show state and local governments nearly doubled annual water and sewer construction spending between 2019 and 2025, reaching levels comparable to bridge and school building programs. Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu said that construction spending on sewage and waste disposal has surged more than 80% over the past five years—about twice the pace of overall construction. “While momentum has waned in certain public construction segments over the past year, spending in the sewage and waste disposal category has continued to grow, rising 11.4% over the past 12 months,” he said. Other communities have followed a similar path. In 2023, Stuttgart, Ark., received an EDA grant to expand water and sewer service at an industrial park. That same year, Yellowstone County, Mont., secured funds for its Lockwood Targeted Economic Development District.  In 2022, Story City, Iowa, won support for upgrades at a business park along Interstate 35. And in 2023, Effingham County, Ga., obtained an award to extend utilities for an auto supplier at Grande View Industrial Park. These projects reflect a strategy of pairing federal support with local matching dollars to make undeveloped tracts competitive for industry. The Environmental Protection Agency’s 2022 Clean Watersheds Needs Survey pegged national wastewater and stormwater investment needs at $630.1 billion over 20 years, a 45% increase from 2016. Meanwhile, the American Water Works Association’s 2025 State of the Water Industry survey again ranked capital financing as utilities’ top challenge. The federal investment has allowed communities to accelerate projects that might otherwise have been delayed.  In Tyler, officials estimate the John Soules Foods line will pay for itself within seven years. In Copperas Cove, leaders describe water and sewer extensions as essential to attracting chip manufacturing. Big Spring officials tout the Crossroads Business Park as a magnet for new employers now that basic utilities are in place. “This is more than an infrastructure project. It is a step toward economic opportunity,” Tyler Mayor Don Warren said when the sewer extension was approved. With utility construction spending nearly doubling since 2019 and local governments leveraging federal programs to underwrite projects, a growing trend is coming into sharper focus: pipes first and payrolls should follow. Read More

Rendering courtesy of USTA The United States Tennis Association’s renovation of Arthur Ashe Stadium, the world’s largest tennis stadium, will be completed in time for the August 2027 U.S. Open in Queens, New York. Related Link: $800M Renovation and Expansion Underway at World’s Largest Tennis Stadium Once the U.S. Open crowns a men’s champion on Sept. 7 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York, the biggest racket heard on site won’t be that of the players, but of the public-facing start of an $800 million project to upgrade the world’s largest tennis stadium and add a new player performance center. Just before the main draw of the U.S. Open started on Aug. 24, ENR caught up with lead architect Matt Rossetti to discuss the project, which has already begun in earnest with the reinforcing of columns at the 24,000-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium, and working on a site the Rossetti firm has worked on since 1990.  ENR: What does it mean for you to continue working at the NTC? Rossetti: It’s funny, we’ve got hundreds of projects that we’ve done and whenever I’m asked what my favorite project is or what project is most special, it is always this project, not just because of the longevity, the creativity and the innovation, but the USTA (United States Tennis Association, owners of the NTC) never rests on their heels. They are always looking for something innovative and different to set themselves apart. In addition to that, they are just frickin’ great people to work with. They are wonderful.  What do you believe will be the most noticeable aspect of the project for fans? Without a doubt it will be the front entry. Ninety percent of fans will not get to experience the clubs and suites, but they will notice an unbelievable change to the front entrance, how it works, how it looks. Then, up on the promenade level we are doing a whole remake of the entire concourse, the retail, the food, the spaces to eat and view the campus. All of that is going to be expanded and renovated.  What do you see as the most technically challenging aspects of the design? All the premium we are putting in all these new clubs are going in spaces that the bulk of it used to be outdoors. How do we convert something like this into partially indoors, fully indoors and fully outdoors, the combination of going in and out and where the systems stop and start for a fabulous fan experience?  Loads have long been a design issue at Ashe, infamously built on a former dump site, how did that play into this plan?  Most people won’t see what is being done. It is three years of [total] construction, and the first year was simply reinforcing all the columns and structural elements that will carry some of this additional load. There’s an entire year’s worth of work, all the structural infrastructure to handle all these changes. Nobody will see that, it just has to be done.  What elements of Ashe needed modernization the most? The back of house is being tripled because the amount of additional food service that is now happening in the building. There is just an incredible amount of hospitality that has to be taken care of. The loading in and out of ice, refrigeration and the vertical circulation of getting to the right places, the back of house was key to solve not just for food service, but for the entire building. Then, additionally, all the player facilities, the program spaces, those are things that were within the lower event level that are all moving out to the new player performance center. That was a major must.  Are there any elements of the design you’re especially intrigued to see come to life?  As I mentioned, the new front entry elements. They will go all the way from the ground, perched above the new TV studios, and then rise all the way and above the promenade level. Within the steel mesh they will provide some shade and an incredible vantage point for looking out and giving the building an incredibly playful and contemporary presence that is both reflective of the dynamics of the play of tennis and a bit of a nod to the history of the Unisphere [next door on the Flushing Meadows site].  Has the front entrance been a collaborative process? Yes, we have had great fun with Daniel Libeskind [and Studio Libeskind]. They have been marvelous to work with.  How do you see this evolution merging with the history of the site? We created this as the third vernacular. We started with the terra cotta, with the blue and white trim. Then we did Grandstand [stadium with additional buildings on site] and created a new palette with the courts in the South Plaza, that was the second iteration of a more contemporary look and color palette and design guidelines. Then with this new one, we branched out even further to make it a more contemporary style and palette befitting both the legacy of the U.S. Open and the energy of New York City.  Do you anticipate construction getting going in a frenzy in September? Yeah, it will be crazy. The mobilization you are going to see is going to be super intense and it will be really fun to watch. Tim Newcomb is a newspaper and magazine journalist based in Western Washington, covering design and construction in buildings and transportation around the Northwest. Read More

An article from Dive Brief Since the district started using the technology, it has uncovered a host of benefits around planning and maintenance. Published Aug. 20, 2025 A BIM rendering of stone revetments for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Buffalo District project at Old Fort Niagara in Porter, N.Y., to mitigate the effects of shoreline erosion that threatens the historic structure. Courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Dive Brief: As the federal government pushes for greater technology adoption in the permitting process, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Buffalo District has implemented building information modeling across its design and construction projects, according to an Aug. 13 news release. The decision to adopt BIM district-wide builds on lessons USACE learned from a pilot program the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center and the USACE New York District conducted at the Asymmetric Warfare Group complex at Fort Meade, Maryland, per the release. On the project, which started in 2013, BIM was successfully used to track and manage real-time data from design through construction and into operations, which demonstrated just how quickly design solutions could be drawn up, according to the news release. Dive Insight: Major benefits of BIM, according to ERDC, which documented the Fort Meade project, include: Reduced design and construction costs by preventing errors and coordination issues. Faster construction planning through linked scheduling and visual modeling. Improved maintenance and facility operations through integration with systems like the General Fund Enterprise Business System. Enhanced lifecycle management by digitizing and tracking equipment warranties, room layouts, utilities and emergency systems. Going forward, the Buffalo District is using BIM to model projects such as miter gates for the Black Rock Lock in downtown Buffalo and remediation work at the Niagara Falls Store Site. Despite challenges that include ensuring file compatibility and enforcing data standards, the Buffalo District views BIM as an investment in future technology, according to the news release. “The entire scope of data that is collected helps to plan projects, design repairs or upgrades, track construction progress, monitor changes over time, and maintain and manage infrastructure,” said Kevin Lesika, a geodesist with the Buffalo district’s survey team, in the release. The move comes amid a push by the Trump administration to make federal permitting agencies embrace technology. For construction, this means using it in federal environmental reviews and other endeavors. Dustin Tellinghuisen, civil engineer at USACE Buffalo District, told Construction Dive in an email that the USACE’s adoption of BIM was a direct result of the government’s push for modernization, digital transformation and improved data management in infrastructure delivery.  In the private sector, contractors have long used BIM, and funding exists through the federal government to encourage state departments of transportation to use technology. Last November, the Federal Highway Administration disbursed a wave of grants worth $16.6 million to eight states under the Advanced Digital Construction Management Systems program. Read More

An article from Project Milestones A $10 million donation from city native Andre Young, better known as Dr. Dre, helped fund the school’s new performing arts center. Published Aug. 20, 2025 • Updated 17 hours ago The exterior of Compton High School in Compton, Calif. Swinerton recently completed the project. Courtesy of Swinerton/Brian Doll This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Concord, California-based Swinerton has completed a $232 million high school in Compton, California, with brand new facilities for the Compton Unified School District according to an Aug. 13 news release. Compton High School’s campus, located in southern Los Angeles, stretches 31 acres and will serve 1,800 students, according to the news release. Construction began in 2019 with the demolition of the original 126-year-old campus.  It also featured a $10 million donation from Andre Young, better known as the rapper, producer and Compton native Dr. Dre. Those funds helped build the school’s Andre “Dr. Dre” Young Performing Arts Center. Alongside Swinerton, the project was designed by Omaha, Nebraska-based architect DLR Group and managed by New York City-based Cumming Group. In total, the project logged roughly 720,000 workhours with nearly 200 workers on the jobsite daily. Over 60% of the workforce was local, which far outstripped Swinerton’s 35% goal, the company told Construction Dive via email. The school features: A 140,639-square-foot academic building. A 40,868-square-foot performing arts center. A 36,534-square-foot gymnasium. A digital-first library with no physical books. Athletic facilities, a football stadium, baseball, softball and soccer fields, tennis and basketball courts and a half-sized Olympic swimming pool. Covered outdoor spaces and California-native landscaping. High-tech, collaborative learning environments designed to prepare students for college and careers. During the earthwork phase of the project, Swinerton utilized drone flyovers to analyze and document major earthwork activities across the site, the company told Construction Dive in an email. The drones helped the team monitor schedule progress as well as confirm quantities of dirt for import and export calculations.  Swinerton also used BIM to coordinate its structural and MEP systems, which helped resolve conflicts prior to fabrication and installation.  The project was funded by a bond measure passed by Compton voters in 2015 and is part of the district’s “Built by Compton” initiative, which prioritizes local hiring and small business participation, according to Swinerton. Correction: Cumming Group is headquartered in New York City. Read More

This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Stacy Roman is a project executive at Newton, Massachusetts-based Chapman Construction/Design. Opinions are the author’s own.  The construction industry, like many others, has gone through tremendous growth in recent years. We have seen increased self-awareness as a means of welcoming a more diverse group of people into an arena that provides tremendous opportunities. As an industry that adopted carbon reduction and prioritized employee health long before it became mainstream, we’re more progressive than we get credit for. Stacy Roman Permission granted by Chapman Construction/Design But with all progress, there is also a chance to reflect on what comes next. As a female project executive, I have identified and pursued the opportunities presented to me to grow and achieve key milestones in my professional development. However, I can also look back and recognize that there were some hurdles along the way, and they may not be the “usual suspects” as it relates to some of the pathways I’ve had to navigate to get to where I am now. What do I think we need to focus on next? I’ve talked a lot on my podcast, Behind the Façade, about building your personal brand and what that means. How you present yourself to others should be a direct reflection on how you see yourself. Be kind. Be strong. Take up space.   In the same vein as personal branding, I think there also needs to be more conversation around mentorship. The idea of “mentorship” means different things to different people.  In my opinion, it should be an organic relationship that doesn’t just occur with one or two people.   Recently on my podcast, we spoke about assembling your personal board of directors. Women should find leaders who can help them support and guide them through different aspects of their careers, from business development to innovation on the jobsite. And when we talk about mentorship, it should be done through a lens of how we bring our companies to the next level, and not just about when our next promotion will occur. A whole-self approach to development When it comes to helping women reach their full potential in the A/E/C space, I see a few distinct opportunities that could represent the next evolution of professional growth. Wear your building hat proudly. I often tell female peers that they should be confident in sharing details about their work in personal spaces. Soccer games, neighborhood gatherings, professional events — you never know who has a project in the pipeline or is grappling with a jobsite challenge. Keep in mind, it’s not about pouncing on a prospect or appearing hungry for a deal; rather, it’s letting peers outside of work know what you do so you might someday be able to help solve a problem.  Collaborate with female peers. One aspect of corporate life that hasn’t changed much despite the progress we’ve made culturally in recent years is competition. I still see too many young, professional women looking for guidance and support from female leaders get cut down due to a misplaced perception that they are competing for spots on the team. My early days in the industry were marked by limited mentoring opportunities and peers that didn’t see the value of collaboration. There’s still a lot of progress to be made here, so if you’re a female leader, lead! And help fresh faces benefit from the value of your years. Keep seeking opportunities – but not just for advancement. When we talk about being open to opportunities, re-framing this conversation to be about training programs, networking channels, board positions and yes, being a mentor, are all far more important to the development of one’s career. They will also inevitably endear you to your peers, male and female alike. Advancement can’t just be about what’s in it for you right now but more focused on how helping your organization succeed will pay dividends for years to come. Believe it or not, the opportunities for advancement will present themselves, but having it happen organically is far more rewarding. The need to evolve For those of us who enjoy being part of an industry that thrives on pushing the envelope, there is much to celebrate. Working for a company that prides itself on creating leadership opportunities from within fills my bucket daily when it comes to witnessing progress first-hand. Now, I hope to see women cross the next Rubicon and ensure they keep lifting others up and bring more capable individuals into the field. If you already have a seat at the table, it would be a missed opportunity not to fill a few more chairs with the next generation of female leaders. Read More

An article from The electric vehicle maker will host two events next month to mark the restart of construction in 2026. Published Aug. 20, 2025 A rendering of Rivian’s new factory near Social Circle, Georgia. The electric vehicle maker expects to start production at the plant in 2028. Provided by Clayco First published on This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Rivian will host two special events next month to mark the restart of construction of its $5 billion Georgia electric vehicle factory, a company spokesperson said in an email to Automotive Dive.  A community event is set for Sept. 14, which will be followed by a formal kickoff ceremony on Sept. 16 “in celebration of our strong partnership with Georgia and the planned resumption of construction in 2026,” the spokesperson said. The kickoff will be attended by stakeholders and government officials including Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.  The plant near Social Circle is expected to start production in 2028 with an annual capacity of about 200,000 units. The electric vehicle maker has faced hurdles with its Georgia factory project. In March 2024, Rivian announced it was stopping construction to save money, deciding instead to move production of its upcoming R2 SUV to its plant in Normal, Illinois, to expedite sales.  Rivian was able to get the project back on track after it won final approval for a $6.6 billion Department of Energy loan, in January. However, Rivian cannot access the funds—which are available through September 2028—until it resumes work on the Georgia factory.  Rivian is investing heavily in Georgia. The company in July announced that it was opening a new East Coast headquarters in Atlanta later this year that will initially employ 100 people, but will ultimately house 500 workers to support its operations in the state.  Read More

This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Seventeen months after Bechtel pledged $7 million to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the team is launching a branding campaign paired with a suicide prevention toolkit for contractors, it shared with Construction Dive. Hard Hat Courage, the initiative built by the partnership along with a CEO advisory council, will seek to confront construction’s high rates of suicide and prioritize mental health alongside physical safety. The initiative will arm companies of varying sizes with mental health and suicide prevention resources and education, tailored to the building industry.  Reston, Virginia-based Bechtel’s donation to AFSP was the largest in the nonprofit’s history. Over five years, the funds will help the partnership meet its goal of reaching 500,000 workers on jobsites across the U.S.  “These new tools put help within reach — anytime, anywhere — so no one in our construction family has to face a mental health struggle alone,” said Brendan Bechtel, chairman and CEO of the firm. “It’s another step toward making mental health care as routine and accessible as a hard hat on the jobsite.” Along with the CEO advisory group meetings, AFSP conducted outreach to dozens of construction organizations, leaders and workers at all levels. That helped its leaders understand lived perspectives and experiences alongside data, said Dr. Christine Yu Moutier, chief medical officer of AFSP. “We’re really looking to contribute to culture change,” Moutier told Construction Dive. ”Really transforming how mental health and suicide, substance use can be approached in a similar fashion that the industry has been so successful at driving down physical injury and mortality, and applying that blueprint to the mental health and suicide framework.”  Resources and talks As part of the Hard Hat Courage launch, AFSP has developed toolbox talks that contractors can bring to the jobsite. The guidelines for a short conversation aim to break down the stigma around suicide and mental health discussion, encourage workers to be more supportive as peers and educate on the warning signs to better incorporate mental health into jobsite safety. In talking with advisors and Bechtel, Moutier said, the AFSP discovered stakeholders wanted to fit the discussions into the flow of the normal day-to-day on the job. Ideally, she said, AFSP will develop and share at least 52 toolbox talks. The initiative also includes a toolkit for construction employers responding after a colleague dies by suicide. The documentation provides tips on building a crisis response team to prepare for such a tragedy, guidance for communicating with the entire company about the news and even a checklist for actions to take on a suggested one-month timeline. Moutier said that though on an individual basis, contractors may not experience a worker death by suicide often, nonetheless, knowing how to react can make all the difference. “The ramifications of not being ready for it or being caught unprepared is that it’s discombobulating,” Moutier said. “People are in a mode of already feeling stressed.” Responding properly can also ensure safer communication for other workers struggling with mental health or thoughts of suicide who may be impacted by the loss of a coworker, Moutier said. “Suicide contagion is actually a real phenomenon that can occur,” Moutier said. “It occurs when vulnerable people are exposed to a peer suicide or a celebrity suicide’s death is messaged by the media in a way that can draw vulnerable people closer to their wish to die.”  Knowing the right language can ensure company leaders can still look after the most vulnerable. Being prepared, getting involved Moutier said she hoped the initiative with Bechtel and the CEO advisory council could be a stepping stone for other industries, providing a blueprint for driving the conversation forward. And the conversation has improved in recent years.  “The fact that it is happening across so many industries and so many organizations is very different than it was, say 15, 20 years ago, where there was still so much stigma that people actually weren’t sure if we could talk about the topic even safely,” Moutier said.  For contractors that want to get involved, Bechtel hopes the awareness factor of the toolbox talks and Hard Hat Courage branding will spur them to take action, not just once, but repeatedly, incorporating the practice. “We know that tackling mental health in construction is not a one-and-done effort,” Bechtel told Construction Dive. “It requires constant attention and better tools in the hands of those who need them most.” Read More