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business has better demonstrated the ideals of adventure, patriotism, daring and
creativity than the American construction company. Construction companies have
connected our nation's coasts, harnessed the power of mighty rivers, tunneled
beneath great cities and touched the skies overhead. Today, you can't enter a
building, drive a road, ride a train or subway or even use a manufactured product
without experiencing the result of some construction company's efforts. These
visionaries have literally paved the way for America's economy and way of life.
Every day, contractors all across the country are breaking ground on new structures,
expanding and improving roads and bridges and improving our nation's commercial
and transportation infrastructure - extending the veins and arteries of commerce,
which carry our economy's lifeblood. The work of construction companies is
almost always unheralded. Occasionally, however, a construction project is so
monumental in its scope or impact on our society that it captures the world's
attention. A selection of those historic construction projects is showcased on
this site. These famous projects show the ingenuity, dedication and courage demonstrated
by the construction companies that took them from vision to reality. The hardships
and dangers the workers faced, the challenges the companies overcame and the new
technologies they developed provide a remarkable testimonial to the American construction
company and its honorable place in our society's development. Historic
Construction Company ProjectsFollow the links below for descriptions of
construction companies and their historic construction projects: CargoCentre™
III and AirFreight & LogisticsCentres™ Complex - This four-building
air cargo complex at Dallas / Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport in Texas
may be the most significant air cargo project to be built un the United States.
With the completion of this complex in December 2005, DFW became the first airport
in the United States to offer an air cargo facility with parking space specifically
designed to accommodate the Airbus A380 aircraft. Bob
Moore Construction was the construction company who tackled this challenging
and historic project. Disneyland
and Walt Disney World - Up until the 1940s, the American amusment park was
limited to merry-go-rounds, ferris wheels and carnival games. All that changed
when Walt Disney envisioned a new amusement park called a Theme Park. Disney's
innovations re-entergized amusement parks in this county and creating an entirely
new approach to the real estate development and commercial construction of theme
parks and the areas surrounding those attractions. And it all started when a father
had a bad experience as he took his daughters out to an amusement park. Empire
State Building - The Empire State Building is a marvel of engineering and
architecture, especially for the era in which it was built, and it occupies a
unique place in the history of construction companies and construction management.
Not only was the 1453-foot, 103-story structure built in just over 13 months,
the construction company that took on the daunting job allegedly began with nothing
on hand -- no equipment or supplies that would be sufficient for such an enormous
undertaking. How they accomplished the task is a case study in early, successful
commercial construction management. Hoover
Dam - A list of modern day construction projects that demonstrate a construction
company's ingenuity and creativity may very well begin with The Hoover Dam. The
Hoover Dam was built by a construction company called Six Companies Inc, which
was actually a consortium of several commercial construction companies: Morrison-Knudsen
Co., Utah Construction Co., J. F. Shea Co., Pacific Bridge Co., MacDonald &
Kahn Ltd. and a joint venture of W. A. Bechtel Co., Henry J. Kaiser, and Warren
Brothers. Interstate
Highway System - The Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense
Highways was designated as one of the Seven Wonders of the United States in 1994
by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The highway system is a marvel
in construction. Not only does it link the nation from coast to coast, but it
also helped to increase business productivity - in fact, since the highway system
was started in 1956, our country has seen a tenfold increase in our gross national
product, thanks to the construction companies who worked on this massive construction
project. New
York City Subway System - New York City was the second-largest city in the
world in the advent of the 20th century, with the majority of its 3.4 million
people living in Manhattan and much fewer people living in Brooklyn, Staten Island,
and Queens. Public transportation of the time-electric omnibus, gasoline powered
trolleys and elevated railways-was inadequate for getting people where they needed
to go quickly and efficiently. The idea of an underground subway system had been
discussed by politicians for decades, and finally it was decided in 1900 that
a subway would be built. Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the construction
company chosen for the job after its bid of $35 million was accepted. Transcontinental
Railroad - The building of the Transcontinental Railroad in the 1860s is a
story that heralds the courage and innovation of the construction companies and
workers who built it. The Senate and House of Representatives passed the Pacific
Railroad Acts of 1862 and 1864. These laws granted rights of way and use of building
materials along the way, a 20-million-acre land grant and government support for
loans of 60 million dollars to construction companies that would build the railroad
and its feeder lines. |
