Bechtel also began engineering work on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in 1959. Other major projects in the 1950s included the Trans Mountain Pipeline in 1952, an oil pipeline in Canada, and a preliminary study for the English Channel in 1959. The company later built the United States' first privately financed commercial nuclear power plant, the Dresden Generating Station, for Commonwealth Edison in Illinois in 1957. In 1949, Bechtel began working with nuclear power after being contracted to build the Experimental Breeder Reactor I in Idaho. The company continued to expand globally throughout the 1940s, particularly in the Middle East. In 1947, Bechtel began construction on what was then the world's longest oil pipeline, the Trans-Arabian Pipeline, which began in Saudi Arabia, ran across Jordan and Syria, and ended in Lebanon. was building the Mene Grande pipeline in Venezuela in 1940. pioneered, in which Bechtel handled a project from planning and design through construction. The company also focused on turnkey projects, a concept Stephen Bechtel Sr. Under Stephen Bechtel Sr., the company diversified its projects and expanded its work into other countries. Bechtel also worked on a pipeline from the Yukon to Alaska called Canol for the United States Department of War during this period. Between 19, Bechtel's wartime shipyards, including Marinship and Calship, built 560 vessels. The company had no prior experience in shipbuilding, but bid for the entire 60 ships. ĭuring World War II, the United States Maritime Commission invited the company to bid for a contract to build half of their order of 60 cargo ships. history at the time and Bechtel's first megaproject. The project was the largest of its kind in U.S. Under his leadership, the Hoover Dam was finished in 1935. He was succeeded by his son, Stephen Bechtel Sr., who became both the head of Bechtel and chief executive of the Hoover Dam project. Warren Bechtel died unexpectedly in 1933 while in Moscow on business. WWII, overseas expansion and the nuclear age Six Companies won the bid in March and construction began in the summer of 1931. In January 1931, Bechtel joined other contractors in the west to form Six Companies, Inc., a consortium created to bid for a contract from the U.S. Bechtel began working with California Standard Oil Company to build pipelines and refineries. In 1929, Warren's son, Stephen, urged his father to embark on the company's first pipeline project. Bechtel Company, which by this time was the leading construction company in the western United States. In 1925, Warren, his sons Warren Jr, Stephen, Kenneth (Ken), and his brother Arthur (Art) joined him to incorporate as W.A. The company worked on its first hydroelectric projects in the 1920s for Pacific Gas and Electric Company in California. The company built roads, bridges, and highways throughout the western United States. Starting with the construction of Klamath River Highway in California in 1919, Bechtel ventured into jobs other than building railroads. Bechtel completed work on a series of railroad contracts during the early 1900s, culminating in an extension of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad finished in 1914. Bechtel Co." on the side of the steam shovel, effectively establishing Bechtel as a company, although it was not yet incorporated. That year he bought a steam shovel, becoming a pioneer of the new technology. Bechtel won his first subcontract to build part of the Oroville-to-Oakland section of the Western Pacific Railroad. Bechtel moved his family frequently between construction sites around the western United States for the next several years, eventually moving to Oakland, California, in 1904, where he worked as the superintendent on the Western Pacific Railroad. Bechtel moved from Peabody, Kansas, to the Oklahoma Territory to construct railroads with his team of mules. History Founding and early years īechtel's business activities began in 1898, when cattle farmer Warren A. 1.5 2000 Bolivian Water privatization, rate increase and violence. 1.2 WWII, overseas expansion and the nuclear age.
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