In Its Biggest Contract, High Steel To Fabricate Half Of The Steel For Approaches Of The New NY Bridge

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lancaster County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

High Steel Structures has won its biggest contract ever, triggering new jobs at its Lancaster and Williamsport plants.

High Steel has been picked to fabricate half of the steel for the approaches of The New NY Bridge.

To be completed in 2018, The New NY Bridge will replace the deteriorated, congested Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River north of New York City.

High Steel, founded in 1931, will fabricate 50,000 tons of steel for the approaches of the new bridge, to have eight passenger lanes and four emergency lanes.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/931218_In-its-biggest-contract–High-Steel-to-fabricate-half-of-the-steel-for-approaches-of-The-New-NY-Bridge.html#ixzz2nTWOUude

Pittsburgh Bridges A Showcase Of Engineering Ingenuity

English: The source of the Ohio River at “The Point” in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The Allegheny River (left) and the Monongahela River (right) join to form the Ohio here. The West End Bridge crosses the Ohio in the foreground. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Modern bridges are super-sized paths of steel with carpets of concrete that soar through the air.

As tour de forces of design, engineering and teamwork, bridges are our most functional visible form of public art. These sturdy structures afford us breathtaking views of the region while stoking our sense of optimism. From their portals, we cross deep ravines, wide valleys and rivers, especially rivers.

With a total of 446 bridges, Pittsburgh is a permanent showcase of inspired engineering.  Its rugged topography has made it a hotbed of bridge design since the city was named in 1758, and the region’s hills and geological formations afforded the natural resources, including wood and stone, to build the bridges needed to connect it.

The city’s first span, opened in 1818, crossed the Monongahela River on the site of the current Smithfield Street Bridge.  The first Sixth Street Bridge spanned the Allegheny River just a year later, ushering in a generation of covered wooden bridges.  Until the late 1800s, everyone — whether in a horse-drawn wagon or on foot — paid tolls to cross the city’s major bridges.  We still pay today — our tax dollars fund multimillion-dollar PennDOT projects.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/life/lifestyle/pittsburgh-bridges-a-showcase-of-engineering-ingenuity-696224/#ixzz2ZfxMNSfF

Steel For I-81 Rebuild Sourced From Pennsylvania Steel Mills

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Dauphin County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In about a month, the massive bridge beams being manufactured for the emergency Interstate 81 rebuild project will be coming from beam fabricator High Steel Structures in Lancaster.

The company’s manufacturing facility — one of three in that city and four in the state — stands in sharp contrast to the fallen production factories that dot parts of the rust belt as it loops through Pennsylvania.

The steel industry was once a giant in Pennsylvania, and not just in Pittsburgh, Johnstown or Bethlehem, cities whose names are synonymous with steel.

While many of the heavy industrial mills closed — and indeed, Bethlehem Steel ceased to exist in 2003 — steel manufacturing is still a part of the state’s industrial landscape.

Read more:  http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/07/all_in_family_steel_for_i-81_r.html#incart_river_default

U.S. Steel CEO Surma Says Company Studying Ways To Cut Costs

U.S. Steel Tower in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The same day his company reported a worse-then-expected quarterly loss, U.S. Steel chairman and CEO John P. Surma told shareholders the Pittsburgh steel producer is undertaking a thorough study of how to reduce costs and is considering an iron-related joint venture with Republic Steel‘s plant in Lorain, Ohio.

Lower sales and shipments brought about the loss, Mr. Surma said.

U.S. Steel reported it lost $73 million, or 51 cents per share, versus a loss of $219 million, or $1.52 per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Sales fell 11 percent to $4.6 billion while shipments declined 3 percent to 5.5 million tons.  Pricing was flat compared to fourth quarter levels but below prices in last year’s first quarter.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/us-steel-reports-larger-than-expected-quarterly-loss-685642/#ixzz2Rz4SE7hE

Sparrows Point Purchased For $72 Million By Plant Liquidator

Steel mill workers were hoping for an operator, but none show at auction

BETHLEHEM STEEL PLANT AT SPARROWS POINT – NARA – 546808 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A liquidation firm won the bidding for Sparrows Point, offering $72 million for the Baltimore County steel mill — less than a tenth of what the complex sold for just four years earlier — and realizing the worst fears of its roughly 2,000 employees.

Mill advocates vowed to push for a miracle to keep steelmaking going there.  The local United Steelworkers union had hoped for a steelmaker would buy and restart the mill — idled after owner RG Steel filed for bankruptcy in May.  But no steelmaking companies showed up to bid at the Tuesday afternoon auction in New York, said Joe Rosel, president of Local 9477 in Locust Point.

The mill’s general manager, Glenn Mikaloff, sent an email to managers late Tuesday that identified Hilco as the winner and the size of its bid.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/bs-bz-sparrows-point-sold-20120808,0,1409767.story

U.S. Steel Earnings Higher Than Estimates

 

U.S. Steel Tower in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

U.S. Steel Corp., the country’s largest producer of the metal, reported second-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates after demand rose for tubular products.

Net income fell to $101 million, or 62 cents a share, from $222 million, or $1.33, a year earlier, Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel said today in a statement. Profit excluding one-time items was 69 cents a share, exceeding the 49-cent average of 19 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales declined to $5.02 billion from $5.12 billion, compared with the $5 billion average estimate.

Demand from U.S. Steel’s customers in the oil and natural- gas drilling helped offset lower prices for hot-rolled steel coil, a benchmark product used in cars, trucks and appliances.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-us-steel-earnings-20120731,0,264490.story

Former Bethlehem Steel Property To Idle

 

BETHLEHEM STEEL PLANT AT SPARROWS POINT – NARA – 546882 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The owner of the financially ailing Sparrows Point steel plant is idling operations there, warning 1,975 workers Thursday that they would be laid off starting next month.

The news, which casts doubt on the future of the Baltimore County facility that was once owned by Bethlehem Steel, came as RG Steel is shopping the steel mill and its other assets to potential buyers.

RG Steel informed the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulations that layoffs would begin June 4 and continue through June 18. The state said the company would be laying off 1,714 hourly and 261 salaried workers, losses that would be a significant blow to the economy.

For years, the plant has faced uncertainty before last-minute deals salvaged the mill. RG Steel is the latest owner to try to sustain steel production at the once-flourishing facility.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-allentown-sparrows-point-idle-20120525,0,7750660.story

GoggleWorks Apartment Project Uses An Unusual Steel Framing Process

Image via Wikipedia

The wraps on the new GoggleWorks apartments on Washington Street in Reading will be long gone by early summer. In the meantime, the $16.7 million building remains swathed in plastic to keep workers warm.

The plastic also has been covering up an unusual construction process based on a metal framing system. Instead of a typical structural steel framework filled in with masonry blocks and wooden planks, it has prefabricated metal framing and walls that stack in place made by ClarkDietrich Building Systems, an Ohio-based provider of steel construction products and services.

Eric Burkey, president of Reading-based Burkey Construction Co., the project’s general contractor, said the walls are set in place and the cold-formed steel joists and metal deck are set before the walls are placed on the floor above. The wall panels literally sit one on top of the other and carry through the overall height of the building.

“This kind of system has been around for a while,” Burkey said. “It just hasn’t been used a lot.”

Read more: http://businessweekly.readingeagle.com/?p=2331

Bethlehem Opens 10.9-Mile Heritage Trail

Historic Bethlehem has a new heritage trail that can be viewed via an 80-stop walking tour.  The City of Bethlehem unveiled this project to the public on Monday.  The tour includes such sites and the Waterworks and Bethlehem Steel.

There are six links in the tour: Moravian Founders, Monocacy Valley, Westward Expansion, Victorian Bethlehem, Farmland to Industry and Steel.  The self-guided tour charts the city’s progress since 1741.  There is also an audio component to the tour which can be purchased for $12.00.  Bethlehem already had several walking tours and many of these 80 sites had previously been renovated.  This Heritage Trail has tied everything together for visitors and residents alike.

A heritage trail is also being developed for Pottstown.  Sue Repko and Tom Carroll have been working very hard to make this happen.  It will leverage the rich history of Pottstown and its location on the Schuylkill River.  There are many similarities between Pottstown and Bethlehem.  Both communities were large steel producers during their industrial heyday and have many historic homes and buildings.  The difference is that Bethlehem has capitalized on their heritage for some time now and continues to identify ways to attract business, industry, new residents and visitors.  Let us hope with the recent momentum of PAID and our own heritage trail initiative that Pottstown can add another similarity to Bethlehem.

For more information on Bethlehem’s Heritage Trail, click here:

http://www.historicbethlehem.org/index.cfm?organization_id=127&section_id=1925&page_id=9603

Detroit Looks To Pittsburgh On How To Revitalize Their City

The Detroit City Council paid a visit to Pittsburgh, PA to see first-hand what transformation looks like and to learn from Pittsburgh’s successes.  Unlike Pittsburgh, Detroit is at the beginning of their process.  Pittsburgh is not sitting back on their laurels as city leaders are continuously making positive changes that have made Pittsburgh the poster child for economic revitalization.  Watch a cool video about this tale of two cities.