{"id":4172,"date":"2012-06-23T08:11:03","date_gmt":"2012-06-23T15:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/?p=4172"},"modified":"2012-06-23T09:25:20","modified_gmt":"2012-06-23T16:25:20","slug":"hows-urs-doing-on-capx-eis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/?p=4172","title":{"rendered":"How&#8217;s URS doing on CapX EIS?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How is URS doing on the CapX 2020 Hampton-Rochester-LaCrosse environmental review?\u00c2\u00a0 Who knows&#8230; it STILL isn&#8217;t out.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rurdev.usda.gov\/UWP-CapX2020-Hampton-Rochester-LaCrosse.html\">USDA&#8217;s web page for CapX 2020 Hampton-Rochester-La Crosse transmission<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>From the Star Tribune, an article about the Sabo bridge collapse &#8212; a bridge designed by URS:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/urs-sabobridge.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4173\" title=\"7bridge0221\" src=\"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/urs-sabobridge.jpg\" alt=\"7bridge0221\" width=\"411\" height=\"273\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/local\/minneapolis\/158275215.html\"><em>A set of cables on the bridge broke loose in February because of  wind-induced vibrations, a consultant said Friday, noting that the  stresses generated by winds as light as 5 to 10 miles per hour might  have been overlooked by the engineers who designed it. The designer,  California-based URS Corp., also did work on the Interstate 35W bridge  over the Mississippi River before it collapsed in 2007.<\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>URS was hired by the state of Minnesota for bridge inspections &#8212; here&#8217;s the 35W bridge gussets from <a href=\"http:\/\/minnesota.publicradio.org\/display\/web\/2008\/05\/22\/bridgelawyers\/\">MPR:<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/urs-gussets.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4174\" title=\"urs-gussets\" src=\"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/urs-gussets.jpg\" alt=\"urs-gussets\" width=\"260\" height=\"194\" \/><\/a>And then this&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/urs-collapse.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4175\" title=\"urs-collapse\" src=\"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/urs-collapse.jpg\" alt=\"urs-collapse\" width=\"290\" height=\"174\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>From a P.I. firm involved with the bridge collapse:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tsrinjurylaw.com\/state-of-minnesota-filed-suit-against-urs-for-i-35-bridge-collapse.html\"><em>The state alleges that the URS contract specifically required the  company to develop tension and compression failure criteria for the  bridge\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s many components \u00e2\u20ac\u201d including the steel gusset plates \u00e2\u20ac\u201d using  data from how they were supposed to be designed.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tsrinjurylaw.com\/state-of-minnesota-filed-suit-against-urs-for-i-35-bridge-collapse.html\"><em>URS Corp. is a San Francisco based firm, that had assured the state  of its expertise in assessing the need for repairs and the best way to  go about doing the repairs. Furthermore, in 2005, URS reported to the  state that if \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gusset plate buckling occurs, it will not be  catastrophic.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In a communication from the corporation in 2006, they  told MN-DOT that they would not calculate actual capacities of all of  the connections even though that would provide the most accurate  results. They said it would be too much work. They proposed to do some  approximate but conservative adjustments to the member capacities per  design specifications.<\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And, as above, URS has the contract the Federal Environmental Review for the CapX 2020 Hampton-Rochester-LaCrosse transmission line.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rurdev.usda.gov\/UWP-CapX2020-Hampton-Rochester-LaCrosse.html\">USDA&#8217;s web page for CapX 2020 Hampton-Rochester-La Crosse transmission<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>They&#8217;ve done other work for RUS:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rurdev.usda.gov\/SupportDocuments\/OPCFEIS_Exec.Summary&amp;TOC.pdf\">Oglethorpe Power Corporations 100 MW biomass project<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/articles\/2012\/04\/27\/2012-10194\/turning-point-solar-llc-notice-of-finding-of-no-significant-impact\">Turning Point Solar<\/a><\/p>\n<p>and on and on and on&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Should RUS be doing this sort of work?\u00c2\u00a0 Who would award them with a contract?\u00c2\u00a0 The State of Minnesota, City of Minneapolis, are wondering&#8230; the STrib is looking at other instances:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/local\/minneapolis\/160090405.html?page=1&amp;c=y\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">URS faulted in projects elsewhere<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Check the examples in the STrib article &#8212; how many of these do we need?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/urs-collapse3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4176\" title=\"urs-collapse3\" src=\"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/urs-collapse3.jpg\" alt=\"urs-collapse3\" width=\"410\" height=\"273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/urs-collapse3.jpg 600w, https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/urs-collapse3-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 410px) 100vw, 410px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How is URS doing on the CapX 2020 Hampton-Rochester-LaCrosse environmental review?\u00c2\u00a0 Who knows&#8230; it STILL isn&#8217;t out. USDA&#8217;s web page for CapX 2020 Hampton-Rochester-La Crosse transmission From the Star Tribune, an article about the Sabo bridge collapse &#8212; a bridge <span class=\"excerpt-dots\">&hellip;<\/span> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/?p=4172\"><span class=\"more-msg\">Continue reading &rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[337,192],"tags":[727,725,726,188,724,163],"class_list":["post-4172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hampton-alma","category-rus-eis","tag-35w-bridge-collapse","tag-bridge-collapse","tag-martin-olaf-sabo","tag-rural-utilities-service","tag-urs","tag-usda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4172"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4178,"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4172\/revisions\/4178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}