Construction

The lemon-yellow "Stop Work!" notice was nailed to a tree at the edge of a construction site near a glittering arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Behind it rose the half-built foundation of a house in a forest clearing ripped by construction workers.Anne Arundel County issued the warning of environmental law violations not to a developer who ignored the county's building code but to a county inspection supervisor whose job it is to make sure developers follow the rules.County officials say they have reprimanded inspector Bryan M. Lang and halted construction of his elaborate four-bedroom house with a cupola and wrap-around porch on Colony Road in Pasadena until he obtains a permit.

PoliceWestminster: An employee of Clair Construction in Louisville, Ky., told police Wednesday that someone damaged a vehicle and trailer and took property. Loss was estimated at $140.

Bill Kidd's Timonium Toyota-Volvo Inc., a York Road fixture for 26 years, is expanding its automotive sales office and shifting its parts and service operations to a new site, its president, William Kidd, said yesterday.Plans call for the construction of a new Toyota and Volvo service and parts center on Industry Lane, about a half-mile south of the dealership's current location."There will be two service departments under one roof," Kidd said. "The Toyota customers will drive in one area; the Volvo customers will drive in another area."

Houses under construction filled with new refrigerators, microwaves and whirlpool tubs are attracting so many thieves in Baltimore County that police have stepped up patrols in construction areas.This year, Baltimore County police have reported 101 cases of burglaries at home construction sites, primarily in the high-growth areas of Owings Mills and White Marsh. That's 15 more incidents than the same period last year."It parallels the construction activity," said Bill Toohey, Baltimore County police spokesman.

In an effort to rejuvenate Columbia's downtown, a parking garage is under construction along Little Patuxent Parkway and Wincopin Circle, with plans calling for it to be topped off by a restaurant.The 280-space garage in Town Center will be completed by September. Rouse Co. officials say they are looking for a restaurant to occupy a facility on top of the garage. Rouse officials say they will wait for a tenant before building the restaurant.During construction, the parking area in front of the Columbia Association building will be closed.

BANGKOK -- The drill grinds away, stopping only to let the hammers take their turn. They tap in nails, thud against concrete, bang against steel girders. Then the drill drowns it all out again.Why do the developers bother to finish this high-rise "luxury" apartment building? Even when they've installed cable television and matching sofas and love seats, who's going to move in?As Bangkok faces its worst economic crisis since World War II, the foreign speculators and the local middle class -- the target groups for new condominiums -- have already fled in droves.

A Baltimore contractor barred from public construction work after admitting that he paid housing officials cash and gifts has re-emerged as a key figure in a new company winning more than $1 million in city work, records show. After a corruption probe, Timothy Lanocha was prohibited for two years from winning contracts financed by the federal government beginning in February 1995.But since 1994, records show, Lanocha had worked for a new company, Botech Inc., which is headed by his father-in-law.

IT SOUNDS like a good idea: Allow developers to pay into a fund to create wetlands when a construction site is unsuitable for restoring the valuable natural feature.Larger marshes could be built elsewhere by experts concerned with ecology and not with demands for housing, shopping centers, roads and utility lines.The business of creating these replacement wetlands is booming, with wetlands "banks" selling pieces of their soggy creations (or credits) to construction firms that need marsh replacements.

There is nowhere to park, long lines of traffic crawl by slowly outside and a huge construction site blocks almost any view of or access to Jim's Corner Restaurant in Annapolis.But Liz and Bill Alexopulos, owners of the cubbyhole West Street diner that's been around since 1922, wouldn't have it any other way. Their business has been booming since May, when construction began on an $8 million traffic circle nearby at West Street and Taylor Avenue, they said."The construction in this area has affected our business tremendously -- for the better," a beaming Bill Alexopulos said as he flipped a burger on the grill.

American Communications Services Inc. laid off 32 workers this week, as the Annapolis Junction-based telephone company continued a restructuring that claimed the job of its chief executive officer last winter.ACSI said the fired workers, part of a staff of 550, were engineering, right-of-way acquisition, and network construction experts whose jobs were naturally running out because ACSI is almost done building its 50-city network to provide local phone service and data communications services aimed at businesses.

Derek Liggins can't keep himself from looking at ceilings. When out with his wife, he stares upward, checking out the ductwork - something his bride of two weeks finds bizarre. This happens, the 42-year-old says, because what he does for a living stays with him all day, an attitude that has been a long time coming. His past is littered with arrests and convictions, the last of which resulted in an eight-year prison sentence for dealing drugs that ended in the summer of 2008. After his release, he joined STRIVE, a three-week job preparation initiative of the Center for Urban Families that changed his life.

Downtown Baltimore's campus of ancient-looking prison buildings, several of which date to the 1800s, is slated for a major face-lift as the state moves forward with plans for two new detention centers that would cost more than $100 million each. A state architectural board is scheduled to review today the design for a five-story, 180-bed detention center for teens facing adult criminal charges. Construction of the glassy, modern building along East Monument Street could begin next summer.

Night travel between Baltimore and Washington will be slowed over the next few months as work crews close lanes, shift traffic patterns and erect structural steel to build the interchange linking Interstate 95 to the new Intercounty Connector. The closings, which began this week, mark the first significant impact that the $2.5 billion ICC project will have on Baltimore-area travelers. Previously, most of the construction had been along the east-west path of the toll road, which will connect U.S. 1 with Interstate 270 in Montgomery County.

WASHINGTON - - Construction of new homes and apartments unexpectedly rose by 3.6 percent in June, the Commerce Department announced Friday morning, an indication that the recession-strained sector may be beginning to recover. The department reported that the building of new homes and apartments had increased in a month to a seasonally adjusted rate of 582,000 units. That was slightly higher than what most economists had expected. At the same time, permits to build new privately-owned housing units rose 8.7 percent in June - to 563,000 units - which was well above the expected 1.9-percent rise.

City seeks new bids for homeless shelter 2 Baltimore's spending panel rejected all six bids to build an $8 million homeless shelter along the Fallsway, but the move will have little impact on the project's timetable, said Khalil Zaied, the head of the city's General Services Department. Two of the bids on the proposed 275-bed shelter were deemed too high, and the other four bidders did not properly fill out the bid forms, according to city attorneys. The city had initially asked for two proposals from each bidder - one showing costs for constructing the building within a nine-month time frame and a second with a yearlong time frame.

Stand anywhere along Maryland's version of the big dig and there can be no doubt the Intercounty Connector is finally a reality after more than a half-century of angst. Huge earth-moving machines gouge red clay from what was once rolling hills and woods. Trucks pour rivers of concrete that will be bridges carrying thousands of vehicles between Montgomery and Prince George's counties. These are the obvious things that announce the coming of the 18.8-mile, $2.5 billion toll road with the official state designation of Route 200, better known as the ICC. However, it's the little stuff that has me walking and riding the route with Mike Baker, the project's environmental engineer.

William Finglass, a civil engineer who established his own construction company, died Tuesday of cancer at Boca Raton Memorial Hospital in Boca Raton, Fla. The Pikesville resident was 97. Born in Eastport, near Annapolis, Mr. Finglass later moved to Forest Park Avenue with his family. He was a 1929 graduate of Forest Park High School and earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from what is now Carnegie Mellon University in 1933. He began his career in the 1930s working for the Baltimore construction firm of John McShain Builders.

The new building for the Carver Center for Arts and Technology will aim to foster connection between academic and specialized subjects and have an "environmentally sustainable design" that maximizes natural light, according to a schematic design briefing on the project. Superintendent Joe A. Hairston referred to the construction project in his report to the Board of Education during its meeting last night. Construction will take place while the existing Towson-area building remains open.

Hugh Macintosh, a civil engineer who had lived and worked in Iran, died Monday of lymphoma at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Lutherville resident was 68. Mr. Macintosh was born in Nantwich, England, and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland. After earning his degree in civil engineering from the University of Edinburgh, he spent time traveling through Europe. "He rode the Borough, the same type of motorcycle that Lawrence of Arabia rode," said a daughter, Andrea Macintosh Whiteway of Potomac. Mr. Macintosh worked for an engineering firm in Manchester, England, until joining International Management and Engineering Group, a company that built pipelines in Iran.

An interchange is being constructed at Interstate 95 and Interstate 695. The work is part of a 10-mile project that began in 2005 and is expected to be completed in 2012. Two express toll lanes will be added to I-95 in each direction, which involves reconstructing bridges and interchanges. View more photos and see a video of the construction at baltimore sun.com/whitemarsh.