FOUR CORNERS STATES EDITION
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December 29 2024 Vol. III • No. 26
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.” Your Four Corners Connection • Dennis Hogeboom • 1-877-877-4997 • dennishogeboom@cegltd.com
Water Pipeline Construction Proceeds in Eastern N.M. By Cindy Riley CEG CORRESPONDENT
As part of an ongoing effort to combat a critical water shortage, construction crews are building more than 15 mi. of water pipeline in Clovis, N.M. The $60 million project, known as Finished Water 1 (FW1), is part of a larger effort overseen by the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority (ENMWUA). “A number of things are being done to address the problem, but the pipeline is the lynchpin,” said Clovis Mayor Mike Morris, chairman of the ENMWUA. “It brings a new and renewable source into the picture and will give us the opportunity to have water security and sustainability into the future.” Southland subsidiary Oscar Renda Contracting of Grapevine, Texas, serves as the general contractor on the FW1 project. A formal groundbreaking for FW1 took place in August 2023. The effort is a portion of the larger Ute Pipeline project, created to deliver potable water from the Ute Reservoir to Clovis, Portales, Elida, Texico and Cannon Air Force
Komatsu PC490LC excavators work in tandem on the pipeline project.
see PIPELINE page 2
Work Starts On $150M Laser Facility at Colorado State University
A rendering of the new laser research facility being built on Colorado State University’s Foothills Campus.
Construction activity started recently on a powerful new laser research facility on Colorado State University’s Foothills Campus. Set to come online in mid-2026, the facility is the combined result of 40 years of laser development research at CSU in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fusion Energy Sciences program in the Office of Science and a strategic $150 million public-private partnership with industry leader Marvel Fusion that launched in 2023. The new building will be known as the Advanced
Technology Lasers for Applications and Science (ATLAS) Facility. A major topic of research there will be laser-driven fusion as a viable clean energy source. Construction on the project will be managed by Tetrad Corp. with McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. serving as the general contractor and SWBR leading design. The 71,000-sq.-ft. facility will feature more than 7,500 cu. yds. of concrete — including 5-ft.-thick shielding walls around the target bay and a 3-ft.-thick slab below the laser and target bays for vibration isolation. see LASER page 6