Billions of dollars are spent each year to renew, replace, expand, or upgrade water systems. The need to do more, and spend more, increases each year. That’s because the country’s aging water infrastructure has been neglected for too long.

This is an alarming issue for public officials at all levels of government. It would be even more alarming to citizens, taxpayers, and the public at large if there were more visibility into what is happening with these public assets.

To address the problem, at least to some degree, private sector firms in the water industry will benefit from an abundance of contracting opportunities in 2021. Here are but a few examples of large water-related projects that will be launched this year.

Public officials in Suffolk County have announced plans to spend $464 million on sewer infrastructure projects between 2021 and 2023. The capital investment will include $63.1 million which is allocated for projects related to the expansion of one wastewater treatment plant. Another $62.9 million is earmarked for construction of a new pump station and force main. An additional $50 million is earmarked for water studies, some of which include design work.

Pennsylvania – Officials at Pittsburgh International Airport will announce bid packages in March for a $905 million new terminal facility.

The airport’s Terminal Modernization Program relocates the Landside Terminal functions and related ground-side functions to a new facility that will be built adjacent to the Airside Terminal.

A new 700,000 square-foot-terminal facility will include airport operations, consolidated airline operations, as well as all passenger and public spaces, such as ticketing, baggage claim, a meet-and-greet area, security checkpoint, and retail and concession options.

New parking and transportation infrastructure will include a new roadway system that will support the new terminal building, as well as a multi-level parking garage and a dedicated ground transportation center.

If no viable reuse can be found for the existing Landside Terminal, it will be demolished.

North Carolina – For the state to achieve a minimum rating of “good” infrastructure, it must raise its level of investment by $20 billion over the next 10 years.

The NC First Commission’s final report recommends a 40 percent increase to the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) budget which would be funded by raising taxes, fees, and tolls.

Specific suggestions include:

Other NC First recommendations include authorizing a pilot mileage-based user fee program for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles and for transportation network companies, adopting a permanent fee to fully replace the motor fuels tax by 2030, and reauthorizing and recapitalizing the state-funded State Infrastructure Bank.

Commissioners encouraged an increased use of public-private partnerships (P3s) by removing the statutory cap on partnership projects. In addition, P3s could be used to expand the state’s broadband services.

California – The Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority and San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) unveiled Link21, a rail improvement program that will connect BART and Regional Rail (including intercity, commuter, and high-speed passenger rail) throughout the 21-county Northern California Megaregion.

Link21, formerly known as the New Transbay Rail Crossing, is a program comprised of various projects that will provide more services, faster connections, and better access to jobs for people traveling throughout the Megaregion.

One major project within the Link21 Program is a new transbay rail crossing between Oakland and San Francisco. The new crossing will be designed to increase capacity for the overcrowded corridor and will bring new passenger rail connections and services to the Megaregion, including the potential for a direct, one-seat ride between Sacramento and San Francisco.

During the Link21 Program development process, BART and Capitol Corridor will work with partners to identify and prioritize a number of major projects needed to create this integrated rail network. Key investments will connect, build upon, and improve Northern California's existing passenger rail service.

Massachusetts – The Baystate Medical Center anticipates advertising for bids in the coming weeks on its $208 million “Hospital of the Future.”

Already occupied by emergency departments and a heart and vascular center, the 640,000-square-foot buildout will transform unused and unfinished space into 18 operating rooms and eight laboratories.

After preliminary work is completed on elevators and electrical improvements, construction will start with a summer 2022 completion goal.

Operations in the new wing are scheduled to begin in fall 2022 at the teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

California – The Orange County Information Technology Division issued a request for information (RFI) from vendors to assist in the creation of a future solicitation for a Gigabyte Passive Optical Network (GPON).

County officials envision a VoIP/Data network using GPON architecture capable of gigabit transmission to desktops.

The solution for the installation shall be capable of supporting about 1,000 county employees in a newly constructed six-story building in Santa Ana with construction set to begin in early 2021. The scheduled completion and occupancy will be mid- to late-2022 or 2023.

Some relevant building features include a Minimum Point of Entry/Main Equipment Room to support the Core GPON Optical Line Termination equipment. Each floor will have two vertically stacked Terminal Rooms per floor to support the VoIP/Data network equipment.

RFI submissions are due by 4 p.m. PSD on March 2.

Maryland – The state’s Department of Transportation (MDOT) has formally recommended Alternative 9, adding two high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes and a bicycle and pedestrian connection across the American Legion Bridge.

These improvements would extend in each direction of Interstate 495 to Interstate 270, and north on I-270 to Interstate 370.

MDOT plans to deliver the upgrades in phases, focusing first on the American Legion Bridge as the primary link between key economic centers in Maryland and Virginia.

Under this MDOT Recommended Preferred Alternative (MDOT RPA), existing travel lanes throughout the corridor will be retained, and will remain free for use by all motorists. Drivers of single occupancy vehicles only would pay if they choose to use the managed lanes.

The phased delivery of the MDOT RPA for the I-495 & I-270 Managed Lanes Study focuses on the American Legion Bridge and I-270 – as Phase 1 South. The agency will not proceed with permitting and implementation of subsequent phases until additional environmental reviews are complete with further collaboration and engagement with agencies and the public.

Alaska – Congress accelerated efforts to improve the Port of Nome’s infrastructure by approving the 2020 Water Resources Development Act.

The funding will go toward expanding the port’s west causeway by twice the size and adding a 1,400-foot breakwater as well as three new docks for larger vessels. The project will enter a two-year design phase, and the port will seek additional sources of funding.

Estimated project cost is $505.23 million with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers funding $378.91 million and the city of Nome obligated to spend or secure partners and grants for the remaining $126.32 million.

Ohio – A $100 million gift will contribute to Kenyon College’s plans to build three apartment-style residence halls on its South Campus.

Each building will have a capacity of 100 students and be built to gold standards for sustainability. Construction is scheduled to begin following the conclusion of the academic year in spring of 2023.

The location of new buildings behind and offset with Old Kenyon Residence Hall was identified in the most recent campus Master Plan in 2014, which calls for the eventual demolition of the New Apartments, which were constructed nearly 50 years ago.

Bushnell and Manning residence halls will be razed to allow for construction of the new residences, although at this time only the east building, Bushnell, will be replaced.

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) recently released a set of standards for hyperloop technology.

The “Hyperloop Standards Desk Review,” sponsored by the Department’s Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology (NETT) Council, serves to assess the status of hyperloop standard development.

It is designed to elicit a dialogue for future hyperloop standardization efforts and identify stakeholder perspectives on the applicability of existing standards to domestic testing and deployment.

The review provides a preliminary mapping of existing standards and regulations to specific hyperloop systems components, but the USDOT will make further revisions to the document based on public comment.

In July 2020, USDOT released “Pathways to the Future of Transportation: A Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology (NETT) Council Guidance Document” to provide a framework for the department’s approach toward non-traditional and emerging technologies, including hyperloop. In response to Pathways to the Future of Transportation, stakeholders shared that it would be helpful for the department to consider the applicability of international or private-sector standards to hyperloop systems in the United States.

Missouri – State transportation officials are ready to move out of the planning phase and advertise for bids in December to replace the Long Creek Bridge.

The estimated total project cost is $36 million to replace the bridge on Route 86 over the Long Creek arm of Table Rock Lake with a new bridge south of the existing structure, which was built in 1956. The new bridge is anticipated to be 32-feet wide, compared to the existing bridge width of 22 feet.

Missouri Department of Transportation plans call for building new sections of pavement to connect the bridge to Route 86 and installing new guardrails at the bridge ends.

Despite several repair efforts and patches, the bridge deck is in poor condition. The structural support truss system is also in poor condition and has reached the end of its life expectancy. Removal of the existing bridge will be included as part of the contract for construction of the new bridge.

Construction is scheduled to begin in spring 2022 and conclude by summer 2024.

Michigan – The Lansing Board of Water and Light (BWL) released a request for information (RFI) to implement electronic logbook software to replace their paper log books for operations and maintenance.

BWL intends to use the RFI input to define the scope of work for a request for proposals to be issued with the goal of implementing the software by the end of April.

RFI submissions are due by 2 p.m. February 17.

Florida – The Sarasota City Commission appointed Marlon Brown as its city manager. He succeeded Tom Barwin who retired in December 2020. Brown had been serving as interim city manager. Prior to that, he was Sarasota’s deputy city manager, assistant to the city manager with the city of Tallahassee, and county administrator for Gadsden County, Florida.

South Carolina – The South Carolina Ports Authority board of directors unanimously approved Paul McClintock as senior vice president of export projects. McClintock previously served as the authority’s senior vice president of marketing and sales.

California – The city of San Jose Aviation Department selected Gene Frazier as deputy director of facilities for the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport, effective March 7. Frazier most recently served as superintendent of airport facilities management at Tallahassee International Airport.

Ohio – The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority named Mark Petit as deputy general manager of innovation and technology. Petit most recently served as chief information officer for the city of Akron and Summit County, Ohio.

North Carolina – New Hanover County appointed Rebekah Roth as planning and land use director. Before that, she served as the county’s senior planner and as planning administrator for the town of Burgaw.

New York – The board of trustees of The City University of New York named Dr. Fernando Delgado as the president of Lehman College, effective July 1. He will succeed Interim President Daniel Lemons. Delgado is executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Mary Scott Nabers, Publisher

Devin Monk, Editor

Government Contracting Pipeline, a publication of Strategic Partnerships, Inc., is a free, weekly newsletter detailing important happenings nationwide and the premier source for federal, state, and local government news and contracting opportunities.