The Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS) database, formally housed on the National Transportation Library's website, is now accessible through the Transportation Research Board's website. TRIS is the largest database of published transportation research, containing some 650,000 records of journal articles, conference papers, technical reports, and books on all modes and disciplines of transportation. More than 50,000 of the records in TRIS provide links to the full-text documents.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson has released an action plan to guide the Obama Administration’s efforts to restore the Great Lakes. The action plan, which the administrator unveiled at a Sunday meeting with governors from the Great Lakes states, lays out the most urgent threats facing the Great Lakes and sets out goals, objectives, and key actions over the next five years to help restore the lakes.

HOUSTON — The City of Austin has selected Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc. (LAN) AECOM joint venture to provide preliminary engineering services for its anticipated urban rail project.

IRVINE, CALIF. — RBF Consulting has selected Reno, Nev. as the site of the company’s newest office location in response to its expanding business opportunities in Nevada. According to RBF’s top management officials, the Reno office is an integral part of RBF’s business planning objectives to better serve the growing need for environmental and regulatory services in the Nevada region.

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — GEI Consultants Inc. has announced that the Feather River Setback Levee project has been recognized by the Sacramento Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) as the 2009 Flood Control Facility Project of the Year. Located in South Yuba County, Calif., and owned by the Three Rivers Levee Improvement Authority (TRLIA), the Feather River Setback Levee is the longest setback levee in the state.

ATLANTA — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Acting Deputy Regional Administrator Beverly Banister last month joined officials from Clemson University and the city of Aiken to celebrate Aiken’s Green Infrastructure Project kickoff ceremony in Aiken, S.C. The project, funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), designed to control the impact of rainwater on the surrounding environment. The ceremony was highlighted with a tour of Sand River and demonstration planting of a rain garden.

WEST LAWN, PA. — Civil engineering firm McCarthy Engineering Associates Inc. has expanded its service offerings to include geotechnical engineering, adding to its portfolio of site development and environmental services for both public and private sectors throughout eastern Pennsylvania. McCarthy Engineering Associates said this new service enables the company to offer a wider array of services, including well monitoring, soils investigation, soil testing, foundation systems, compaction grouting, nuclear density testing, structural engineering, design and inspections.

ARLINGTON, VA. — Following an emergency meeting to discuss the impact of the current shutdown of federal highway and transit programs, state transportation officials called the action "a bad situation and it's only going to get worse." On Sunday, Feb. 28, the current extension of the surface transportation program expired, leading to a shutdown in reimbursements to states for highway projects and transit programs administered by the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration.

DEERFIELD, ILL. — CE News and Rebuilding America's Infrastructure are presenting a series of four, one-hour-long webcasts — sponsored by Autodesk — focused on the use of BIM for transportation design projects. 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced three steps to support communities’ efforts to provide their citizens with economic opportunity while reducing impact on the environment. The actions will encourage state and local government to make their communities more sustainable by strategically aligning their environmental, transportation and housing investments.

PASADENA, CALIF. — Tetra Tech Inc. has been awarded a $40 million contract to design and build a 152-megawatt (MW) wind farm outside of Woodward, Okla. The company will provide engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) services to CPV Keenan II Renewable Energy Co. LLC for the Keenan II Wind Farm.

AUSTIN, Texas – On Monday, Feb 15, 2010, the construction process began on the "DFW Connector," a stretch of highway running through Grapevine and Southlake, Texas. The project should reduce peak hour traffic commute times and introduce a highly anticipated economic boost to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Texas engineering firms such as pavement designers The Transtec Group, Inc, from Austin have been chosen by builder NorthGate Constructors to support the $1.02 billion design/build project.

DENVER – On Wednesday, February 17, 2010, at the 41st conference and expo of the International Erosion Control Association (IECA), the Awards of Environmental Excellence presentation ceremony was held. For the past 19 years, IECA has recognized the industry’s best by awarding persons and projects epitomizing the principles of environmental excellence. Awards are only given to the highest quality projects and innovations. Annually, IECA members submit nominations of worthy individuals and projects. After careful review and consideration, the IECA Awards Committee selects each year’s winners.

NEW YORK — Thomas R. Kuesel, 83, a recognized authority on tunnel and bridge engineering and former partner at Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), died Feb. 17 in Connecticut. During a 43-year career with PB, Kuesel contributed to the design of more than 130 bridges and more than 140 tunnels in 36 states and on six continents.

HOLLYWOOD, FLA. — Hazen and Sawyer is playing a vital role in the Water Research Foundation’s Climate Change Strategic Research Initiative — a cutting-edge research project focused on evaluating the impacts of climate change on water supplies. The firm is undertaking two major research projects that will be instrumental in helping utilities anticipate, appraise and manage potential climate risks.

ONTARIO, CALIF. — CH2M Hill has unveiled the findings of a comprehensive year-long study measuring the vast scale and recharge rate of the Cadiz aquifer system. The study, presented this month at a conference of the Association of Ground Water Agencies and American Ground Water Trust, describes a groundwater basin consisting principally of an alluvial and carbonate aquifer ranging in size between 17 and 34 million acre-feet, a volume of water larger than Lake Mead, the nation’s largest surface reservoir.

DENVER — University of Washington researchers and CH2M Hill presented last week the Greenroads sustainability performance metric and best practices for roadway design and construction at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

ORLANDO, FLA. — Lee Strickland, missing for five weeks since the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, has been recovered from the Hotel Montana. Strickland, a transportation engineer with PBS&J, was in Haiti representing the firm at a 2-day workshop. According to his family, Strickland will be flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and then home to his family in Winter Park.

PASADENA, CALIF. — Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has announced the acquisition of Jordan, Jones and Goulding Inc. (JJG). Jacobs said JJG significantly expands its position in the North American water and wastewater market, and broadens the company’s strong position in the global aviation, transit and transportation infrastructure markets.

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the City of Redondo Beach, Calif., this month celebrated the groundbreaking of the Alta Vista Park Diversion and Reuse Project, which will protect coastal waters from urban stormwater runoff — the No. 1 cause of coastal water pollution in Southern California — and use collected rainwater for park irrigation. The $2.2 million project is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.