History

First major non-railroad construction project: Klamath Highway in Northern California.

First job for a large power utility: the Caribou Water Tunnel in Northern California, part of the Caribou Power Plant, which will generate 75 megawatts of electricity

W. A. Bechtel Co. was a family business from the beginning. W. A. was determined to build a company that would allow him to pass along to his children not just financial security and physical assets, but a sense of responsibility and obligation to company employees and associates, and to the enterprise. He took immense pleasure in the increased interest and involvement of Bechtel family members.

Pictured (left to right): W.A. Bechtel and sons Steve, Ken, and Warren Jr.

• Introduced using track-laying tractors on the Southern Pacific Railroad, Natron Cut-off, Oregon.
• Southern Pacific Railroad, Arizona: main line extension.

First foray into the dam-building business: Bowman Dam, California, is completed. The construction site is so remote that the company is forced to construct a camp, complete with a hospital, a hundred head of cattle, a slaughterhouse, and storage facilities, to sustain the crew for the winter.

First pipeline: The 8-mile- (13-kilometer-) long Tres Piños–Milpitas in California begins operation.

The Hoover Dam: Bechtel's First Megaproject

The Hoover Dam project was too big for any one company. So W. A. Bechtel helped form a consortium calling itself Six Companies, Inc. W. A. knew the heads of the consortium companies as friends and business associates, having been in partnerships with most of them. 

The Hoover Dam was ​officially dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in September 1935—represents a pivotal event in the history of Bechtel. There have been bigger projects, and there will be still bigger jobs in years to come. But never again will Bechtel be involved with a project that so profoundly shaped our company's sense of itself. 

Hoover Dam was a make-or-break proposition for my grandfather. It became the birthplace of many of the great traditions of the present Bechtel organization.
Stephen D. Bechtel Jr., 1982 

Between 1934 and 1938, the Six Companies, Inc., partnership built Parker Dam across the Colorado River. Operating as Columbia Construction Co., they corralled the waters of the Columbia River behind the concrete arches of Bonneville Dam and built Ruby Dam and Grays Harbor jetties in Washington State; and as Six Companies of California, they constructed a section of the Oakland–Contra Costa highway. Utah-Bechtel-Morrison-Kaiser Co. lined the Moffatt Water Tunnel and built Taylor Park Dam in Colorado.

Stephen D. Bechtel Sr. becomes president of W.A. Bechtel Co.

These were times when attempting the impossible became standard procedure, and the Bay Bridge is a perfect example—the plans called for bridge piers to be set deeper than anyone had ever attempted. And seldom had anyone confronted currents as unpredictable or winds as blustery as those on San Francisco Bay.

The Bechtels formed Bridge Builders, Inc., allying themselves with Six Companies partner Henry Kaiser, one of W. A.’s most trusted collaborators. They added several old-line eastern firms, including some of the most experienced deep-caisson builders Steve could find. 

First shipbuilding job: Calship delivers 467 cargo ships and Marinship cranks out 15 Liberty ships and 78 tankers and oilers. 

As part of a Department of War–mandated project to shore up U.S. defenses in Alaska, Bechtel interests begin work on Canol, a  1,430-mile (2,300-kilometer) pipeline across Canada and Alaska. The pipeline transports oil from Canadian fields to a new refinery.

Bechtel’s first work in the Middle East: Bahrain Petroleum Co. hires BMP to build a refinery capable of producing 150,000 barrels of oil per day.

First major power contract: Equipment changes for Southern California Edison; engineers must convert power equipment operating on a 50-cycle current to a 60-cycle current. 

Trans-Arabian Pipeline

Bechtel begins work on the 1,068-mile (1,719-kilometer) Trans-Arabian pipeline (Tapline), which will transport oil across Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon to tankers in the Mediterranean. 

First nuclear reactor: Near Arco, Idaho, Experimental Breeder Reactor-1 (EBR-1) is the first nuclear reactor to generate electricity from atomic energy.

Bechtel begins to build three power plants for South Korea, doubling that country’s energy output.

In Illinois, groundbreaking takes place for the Dresden nuclear plant, the largest nuclear power facility in the United States at the time. Bechtel helps design and construct the plant, which is completed in 1959.

Swift Dam, Washington state: a hydroelectric project adds 204,000 kilowatts to the regional power supply

Stephen D. Bechtel Jr.

Stephen D. Bechtel Jr. becomes president of Bechtel Corporation.

Chocolate Bayou, Texas: among the largest petrochemical plants ever built.

Athabasca Tar Sands in northern Alberta: the first large-scale operation to recover oil from enormous tar sand deposits.

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) System

First mass-transit project: Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in the San Francisco area. In 1976, it becomes the first totally new rapid transit system to be completed in the United States in 40 years and significantly eases traffic.

• Bechtel signs on to develop the West Irian copper project on the Indonesian part of the island of New Guinea. The copper, extracted from a deposit at an elevation of 11,000 feet (3,353 meters), is transported to the coast by a 70-mile- (113-kilometer-) long slurry pipeline.
• Bechtel begins the largest chemical plant to date, the Ponce petrochemical complex in Puerto Rico. It is capable of producing 3 billion pounds (1.36 billion kilograms) of chemicals each year.

Bougainville copper project

In Papua New Guinea, Bechtel begins work on the Bougainville copper project, which included pipelines and roads through a mountainous jungle—from sea level to 2,500 feet (762 meters)—as well as the implementation of one of the most complex telecommunications networks to date, linking the remote job site to the outside world.

Bechtel, as part of a joint venture, begins work on the monumental Churchill Falls hydroelectric project in Labrador. 

Bechtel begins work on the Washington, D.C., Metro transit project, which includes 98 miles (158 kilometers) of track. 

James Bay Hydro

Bechtel helps manage and coordinate work on the huge James Bay hydroelectric complex; work continues into the mid-1980s

Syncrude, Alberta: extraction complex.

Palo Verde, Arizona: nuclear power plant.

Algeria’s first LNG plant is dedicated. Built by Bechtel, the plant triples Algeria’s export capacity of liquefied natural gas.

King Khalid International Airport, Saudi Arabia. The King Khalid project includes five terminal buildings, a control tower, a mosque, a ceremonial mall, and support and utility buildings, as well as a self-contained community for 3,000 people.

Bechtel assists in the cleanup and recovery of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, developing several generations of robotic devices for use in decontaminating the damaged unit.

In March 1979, the Unit 2 reactor core of the nuclear power station at Three Mile Island (TMI) experienced a partial meltdown that damaged the fuel rods and possibly other internal reactor components. Radioactive materials were released from the core into the reactor coolant system and into the reactor building. An avalanche of frightening questions came crashing down in response. What were the true dangers of the accident? How close could one get to the reactor without being exposed? What were the conditions in the reactor?

• We are awarded our first contracts to clean up radioactive government research sites in the United States.
• The first gold is mined at the Ok Tedi gold and copper project. Bechtel, in a joint venture, provides engineering, procurement, and construction services. The project mines, processes, and ships more than a million tons of copper ore from an isolated mountaintop in Papua New Guinea between 1987 and 1994 alone.

In New Zealand, Bechtel begins constructing the world’s first commercial facility to convert natural gas to gasoline.

Bechtel provides start-up engineering and construction support for the completion and commercial operation of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power facility in California.

Ankara-Gerede Motorway

Bechtel begins work on the Ankara-Gerede Motorway in Turkey.

Channel Tunnel

Bechtel gets involved in completing the Channel Tunnel, connecting England and France. One of the century’s largest engineering and construction projects and the world’s largest privately financed infrastructure project, the tunnel opens in 1994.

Boston Central Artery

In a joint venture with Parsons Brinckerhoff, Bechtel begins construction on the Boston Central Artery/Tunnel project, America’s largest infrastructure job, which includes a freeway beneath Boston and a tunnel beneath Boston Harbor.

Riley P. Bechtel becomes president of Bechtel Group.

Hong Kong Airport

Bechtel helps manage the Hong Kong Airport Core Programme—10 projects that include construction of bridges, tunnels, railroads, and an international airport at Chek Lap Kok, and extensive land reclamation.

Athens Metro

A Bechtel-managed consortium begins an ambitious expansion and modernization of the Athens Metro subway system in time for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece.

Extinquishing the Kuwait Oil Fires

In the aftermath of the Gulf War, Bechtel leads the effort to put out 650 oil-well fires and rebuild Kuwait’s oil infrastructure, destroyed by Iraqi troops.

A Bechtel joint venture is selected to provide design, procurement, and construction management services for a Motorola facility in Tianjin, China, that will produce a variety of electronic products and provide office space. Bechtel will work for Motorola in China for the rest of the decade

PGT-PG&E Pipeline

The 800-mile (1,287-kilometer) Bechtel-built PGT-PG&E natural gas pipeline expansion is completed.

As part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, Bechtel helps Russia develop a comprehensive chemical weapons destruction plan.

• Bechtel is the first U.S. firm granted a construction license in China: Motorola semiconductor manufacturing facility.
• El Abra, Chile: copper mine
• Bechtel is selected as the prime contractor for Atlantic LNG, the Western Hemisphere’s first liquefied natural gas plant in 25 years. The plant, on the island of Trinidad, becomes the largest single investment ever in the Caribbean.

Bechtel begins work on an $800 million, 440-megawatt power plant in Quezon Province in the Philippines.

Bechtel

• starts a 93-mile (150-kilometer) section of the Croatian Motorway.
• begins a copper and zinc mine high in the Peruvian Andes at the Antamina Mine. 
• begins the high-speed rail link connecting the Channel Tunnel to London, to provide seamless high-speed passage among London, Paris and Brussels.
• takes on building the Jubilee Line extension of the London Underground.​

Bechtel

• works on mustard agent stockpile destruction at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. 
• builds a shelter for 20,000 Kosovar refugees at Camp Hope, Albania.

• Becomes the first engineering and construction company to embrace Six Sigma, a data-driven methodology for improving quality. 
• Begins a nationwide network expansion for a major US wireless carrier.
• Works on three Turkish Power Plants in western Turkey. 

• Started the Ground-based Midcourse Defense Program, in Alaska: an infrastructure that earned the customer’s highest performance award.
• Restarts a nuclear generator dormant for 22 years, in Browns Ferry, Alabama.
• Starts the West Coast Route Modernisation in the United Kingdom, a high-speed rail upgrade connecting London to Scotland.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

A Bechtel joint venture starts the longest U.S. suspension bridge in four decades, the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge near Seattle, Washington. 

• Takes on its largest Sino-foreign joint venture to date: CSPC Nanhai Petrochemicals Complex, China.
• Begins Darwin LNG, northern Australia a liquefied natural gas project.
• In the wake of conflict in Iraq, we help rebuild vital infrastructure in that country, including roads, bridges, telecommunications, and power and water systems.

Vodaphone, Australia chooses Bechtel for its 3G mobile service rollout.

Hamad International Airport

Bechtel begins construction on Hamad International Airport (formerly New Doha International Airport) in Qatar.

Fjarðaál Aluminum Smelter

Bechtel starts its first project in Iceland, the big Fjarðaál Aluminum Smelter. The project wins Iceland’s highest award for environmental achievement.

Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts

Working for the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, Bechtel provides temporary housing for nearly 100,000 Mississippi residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

2005

• Begins work at the Oak Creek Power Plant, Wisconsin: a coal-fired facility.
• Starts work on Sohar Aluminium, a greenfield smelter project in Oman. We employed 1,900 Omani's at the peak of construction.

• Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico: management and operation
• First deepwater gas field in India: KG-D6, Bay of Bengal

 

Jamnagar Refinery

Jamnagar Expansion, western India: refinery

• Prairie State Energy Campus: Clean-coal power plant
• Albanian Motorway, Romania: Driving tourism and boosting the economy.
• Los Pelambres, Chile: Copper mine expansion.

Angola LNG

Angola LNG

• First project out of Mining & Metals hub in Brisbane: Crinum North mine, Australia
• Dulles Corridor Metrorail Extension in Northern Virginia, a 12-mile (19-kilometer) extension of Washington, D.C.'s metro system.
• Crossrail, London: The twin 13-mile (21-kilometer) rail tunnels and related systems make Crossrail the largest infrastructure project in Europe.

Gabon Infrastructure

The master infrastructure plan balances economic progress with social and environmental priorities to support the government of Gabon's vision.

Bechtel forms an alliance with Babcock & Wilcox to commercialize Generation mPower, a small modular reactor development for nuclear power.

Curtis Island LNG

Bechtel begins work on three world-scale liquefied natural gas plants on Curtis Island in Queensland, Australia. The project was completed in 2016 on time, within budget and received top industry honors.

Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System

• First utility-scale photovoltaic project and one of the world’s largest: California Valley Solar Ranch.
• Muscat International Airport, Oman: 28-gate passenger terminal.

• Selected by BHP Billiton for two new copper projects high in the Chilean Andes.
• Bechtel celebrates a half-century working in the UAE and 60 years in the UK.

• In Chile, work begins on a complex water system for Escondida, a desert copper mine.
• Waad Al Shamaal City, Saudi Arabia: phosphate complex and industrial city.

Bill Dudley becomes first non-Bechtel CEO in the company's history. Brendan Bechtel becomes President and COO.

Riyadh Metro

Broke ground on Riyadh Metro, the largest fixed-price contract in Bechtel history.

Achieved 75 years in the aviation market. 

2016

Brendan Bechtel becomes CEO

Chernobyl shelter and confinement

Bechtel completes preliminary work on the arch, providing a safer working environment for cleanup personnel and better containment of radioactive dust and debris for the next century

Bechtel, in consortium with Siemens Energy Inc., completes the state-of-the-art, Stonewall Generating Facility, a 778-megwatt plant for Panda Power Funds. 

Sydney Metro

Transport for NSW selects Bechtel as its Delivery Management Partner for the Tunnel and Station Excavation Works Package as part of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project. 

Bechtel is top contractor for 20th consecutive year

Engineering News Record names Bechtel top U.S. contractor for the 20th consecutive year - more info

Hummel Combined Cycle Power Plant

Bechtel completes conversion of a coal power plant into a 1,124MW combined-cycle natural gas facility, powering one million homes in Philadelphia and the New York metropolitan area.

Kosovo Motorway

Bechtel and joint-venture partner ENKA complete Kosovo Motorway Route 6 - boosting trade, promoting economic growth, and enhancing connectivity. 

NASA Mobile Launcher 2

Working with U.S. companies and international partners like Bechtel, NASA will push the boundaries of human exploration. Bechtel will contribute decades of engineering and construction capability to the mission by constructing Mobile Launcher 2 (ML2).

Craig Albert named Chief Operating Officer

Bechtel reaches out to its neighbors during COVID crisis

Bechtel collaborates with the global crowdfunding nonprofit Global Giving to direct $3 million to communities fighting the coronavirus pandemic - more info