LS Power Starts Construction on 285-Mile, $1B SWIP-North Line
LS Power broke ground September 3 on the 285-mile, 500 kV SWIP-North transmission line, closing the last gap in a 576-mile Idaho-to-Nevada corridor conceived in the 1980s.
FMI: AEC Firms Budget 4.3% Raises as Long-Term Incentives Top 50%
FMI’s 2026 Compensation Trends Study puts average AEC raise budgets at 4.3% and shows long-term incentives crossing 50% of firms for the first time.
Iron Workers Elect Kevin Bryenton General President at 45th Convention
Delegates elected Kevin Bryenton the Iron Workers’ 14th general president on September 2 in Chicago, a five-year term running through 2031 for a 130,000-member trade.
PHMSA Gives Four Days, Not 30, on 13 Pipeline Safety Rules
PHMSA reopened comment on 13 proposed pipeline safety rules on September 1, granting four days against the 30 requested, with five proposals changing field construction work.
Clark Pacific Triples Precast Capacity With 110-Acre Arizona Plant
Clark Pacific broke ground September 3 on a 110-acre prefabricated building systems plant in Coolidge, Arizona that it says will triple total production capacity.
Chobani Takes a 1.5M-Sq-Ft KDP Plant and Will Spend $1.2B on It
Chobani will spend $1.2 billion converting a 1.5 million square foot Keurig Dr Pepper plant near Allentown to dairy manufacturing, with production starting in 2027.
VA Can’t Force Its Architect to Review the GC’s CPM Schedules, Board Says
The CBCA denied VA summary judgment on August 28, holding that the word schedules in its standard A/E clause does not plainly cover contractor CPM schedule review.
Toronto Adds AI Permit Pre-Check That Cut Honolulu Reviews 55%
Toronto launched an AI permit pre-check on August 31 that screens zoning and building code issues before submission, running on the platform Honolulu deployed.
DOE Puts $117M Into 56 Industrial Projects, Four on Cement Clinker
DOE awarded $117 million across 56 industrial projects on September 1, including four cement and concrete awards targeting clinker reduction of up to 75%.
More Contractors Cut Headcount Than Added, a First Since the Pandemic
AGC and NCCER’s 2026 workforce survey found 37% of contractors cut headcount by at least 5% while 34% grew it, the first reversal since the pandemic.
Record Data Center Construction Didn’t Move Vacancy. It’s Still 1.4%.
CBRE’s H1 2026 report finds 7,481 MW under construction across North America’s primary markets and vacancy stuck at 1.4%, with Atlanta passing N. Virginia.
The FAA Signed $231.9 Million of Control Tower Work in Two Days, and Two Firms Took All Three Jobs
Three FAA tower contracts worth $231.9M were signed August 27 and 28, drawing only two or three bidders each, split between Stronghold and Brasfield & Gorrie.
Stepping Down Off a Track Loader Isn’t a Scaffold Law Fall, and an OSHA Standard Won’t Carry a 241(6) Claim
A September 2 Second Department ruling tightens two doctrines New York contractors rely on, and kills a storm-in-progress defense for want of weather records.
Crews Restricted to One Trade Spent a Third of the Day on Direct Work. Multiskilled Crews Spent Half.
A field-observation study of 644 workers across 36 projects puts numbers on what trade-boundary handoffs cost: idle time down 68% when crews work across crafts.
LP Is Idling 475 Million Square Feet of OSB Capacity in East Texas
LP will indefinitely curtail OSB production at its Jasper, Texas mill in October, pulling roughly 475 million square feet of annual capacity on soft demand.
NHTSA Says It Never Had Authority to Regulate Work Truck Engines Separately, and Will Enforce On That Basis
An NHTSA interpretive rule applicable August 31 holds the agency can set vehicle standards but not separate engine standards for work trucks, pending a rewrite.
A Data Center Owner’s In-House Builder Went Independent at $1.7 Billion in Revenue
T5’s construction arm relaunched September 1 as independent data center GC EverOn, after growing from $87M to $1.7B in four years. Salute buys T5 Operations.
A Post-Fire Flood Destroyed 40% of a Waterline That Was Sited Above the Modeled Floodplain
An August 29 flash flood off a 2025 burn scar destroyed about 40% of the Grand Canyon’s Transcanyon Waterline, three months from the end of a $208M replacement.