Top Story

• $5B worth of projects to change Boston skyline
  Twenty-two projects worth $1.6 billion were started this year in Boston, while 37 more -- worth $3.4 billion -- have been approved, according to Mayor Tom Menino's office. This slide show profiles seven of the largest projects, including the $350 million state-of-the-art Longwood Center research facility, the $625 mixed-use Millennium Tower and the $500 million global headquarters of New Balance. BostInno (Boston) (12/28)     

Infrastructure & Project Focus

• Fla. nuke plant's $5B-plus repair tab has ripple effects
  Duke Energy and its subsidiary Progress Energy must decide whether to shut down the Crystal River nuclear plant in Florida or spend $3.5 billion to repair a "botched" maintenance project and buy energy from other sources. Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited -- the company that insures all 104 nuclear plants in the U.S. -- has only $3.6 billion to cover claims. That means other nuke facilities and projects could be affected -- as could rate payers across America. Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Fla.) (12/30)     

• Construction update: Seattle's $1.8B light-rail tunnel project
  Work continues on the $1.8 billion light-rail tunnel between the University of Washington and downtown Seattle. Crews have excavated and crushed 28,000 truckloads of dirt and rock so far. The tunnel has been completely excavated and wall panels have been installed using high-precision lasers and computers. Crews will start placing trail rails in March. KIRO-TV (Seattle) (12/29)     

• Ind. finalizes $763M deal to build part of Ohio River Bridges Project
  The Indiana Finance Authority has completed an agreement with WVB East End Partners, a 24-member group of firms that will "finance, build, operate and maintain the eastern bridge" of the Ohio River Bridges Project for $763 million. The project includes completion of Interstate 265 between Utica, Ind., and Kentucky's eastern Jefferson County. The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.) (12/28)     

Hot Topics

Top five news stories selected by AGC SmartBrief readers in the past week.

• San Francisco 49ers' new stadium tops out (The Santa Clara Weekly (Calif.))

• Interactive map ranks 50 largest U.S. shopping malls (SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Leadership)

• Slideshow: San Francisco's Transbay Transit Center (San Francisco Chronicle)

• Kiewit, J.F. Shea to build $1B San Diego desalination project (The Bond Buyer (free content))

• Large convention center, military projects in planning stages (Reed/ACP Construction Data)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

Economic Update

• Senate still has no agreement to avert "fiscal cliff"
  Senate leaders failed to agree Sunday on a compromise to avert the "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and spending cuts scheduled to take effect Tuesday. Talks took a new direction late in the day, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., opening talks with Vice President Joe Biden on how to break the deadlock. More discussions are planned today. The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (12/30), The Washington Post (12/30), Chicago Sun-Times (12/31)     

• Cost of building materials rises; could affect new home building
  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (12/27)     

Innovation & Green Building

• Report: BIPV to become a $2.4B market by 2017
  A new Pike Research report forecasts that the market for building-integrated photovoltaic technology is expected to boom in the next few years, moving from $606 million this year to $2.4 billion in 2017. BIPVs are ultra-thin solar panels, some of which can "printed right onto building materials" such as walls, roof shingles, windows and steel roofs. GigaOm (12/27)     

Policy Watch

• Pressure mounts for Congress to pass Sandy aid bill
  House and Senate lawmakers face increasing pressure to pass legislation to fund reconstruction and other expenses resulting from superstorm Sandy. A $60.4 billion funding plan recently won Senate approval, but House Republicans want to cut the amount to roughly $27 billion. Projects such as transit and community development are the focus of the Senate proposal to help New York, New Jersey and other storm-ravaged states. The Hill (12/30), Politico (Washington, D.C.) (12/28), Reuters (12/28)     

• Mexico asks U.S. court to bar enforcement of part of Ariz. law
  The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)/The Associated Press (12/27)     

Association News

• A better way to contract
  ConsensusDocs offers more than 100 contract documents that align all of the project participants with the project. ConsensusDocs are the only standard contracts written by 38 leading design and construction industry associations. Designers, owners, contractors and sureties (docs) all have an equal voice at the ConsensusDocs drafting table, which is why ConsensusDocs has consistently been first in publishing best-in-practice documents addressing today’s cutting issues, including integrated project delivery (IPD), building information modeling (BIM), green and lean construction, electronic communication protocols and federal contracting. Learn more and subscribe!     

• AGC of America’s Constructor magazine team launches Constructor Marketplace
  AGC of America’s Constructor magazine team, headed by Naylor, LLC, has launched its Constructor Marketplace. The marketplace is an online buyers’ guide for information about construction vendors, products and services. Information on AGC service and supply firms are listed by category -- in order to make sure your listing is accurate and up to date, please take a few seconds to review your listing. Should you need to update your company’s information, please contact Pam Dissel at PamD@naylor.com. Constructor’s Online Buyer’s Guide (Constructor Marketplace) is brought to you by Constructor, the magazine of The Associated General Contractors of America. This Buyers’ Guide is not the AGC Online Member Directory. To access the AGC Member Directory, please visit www.agc.org.     

Editor's Note

• SmartBrief will not publish Tuesday
  In observance of New Year's Day, SmartBrief will not publish Tuesday. Publication will resume Wednesday. Enjoy the holiday!     

SmartQuote

Never tell your resolution beforehand, or it's twice as onerous a duty." --John Selden, English jurist and scholar