WORKFORCE Homeland Security proposed ending the 60-day grace period for nonimmigrant workers whose employment ends. The notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register today would remove 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2), the regulation that lets workers in E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1, and TN status, and their dependents, remain in the United States for up to 60 days after their job ends without falling out of status. The department frames the change as restoring its “previous and long-standing policy.” Under the proposal a worker violates status on the day employment ceases unless another lawful basis to stay already exists, which narrows the window to change employers, file a new petition, or wind down an assignment. H-1B and O-1 employers stay liable for the cost of return transportation when they terminate a worker early. Firms that sponsor engineers on these classifications should read the proposal against their own separation and layoff procedures. Comments are due Nov. 10 under docket USCIS-2026-0364, RIN 1615-AD22.
Source: Federal Register, Sept. 11
POLICY A second Federal Register notice sets an Oct. 2 comment deadline on the highway right-of-way leasing program. The Transportation Department published its America’s Great Corridors of Commerce request for information today under docket DOT-OST-2026-3269, with comments due Oct. 2. A request for information with the same title and the same docket published Aug. 18 and set a Sept. 12 deadline, and the department’s program page still lists Sept. 12. Neither notice refers to the other, and the department has not labeled today’s notice an extension. Firms preparing comments should file by Sept. 12 and treat Oct. 2 as the outside date. The program would designate up to five corridors a year and let highway and rail right-of-way owners lease space to electric transmission, fiber, rural broadband, and water pipelines under a concession model, with federal coordination on environmental review, permitting, and financing.
Sources: Federal Register, Sept. 11; Federal Register, Aug. 18; U.S. DOT, America’s Great Corridors of Commerce
ENG MnDOT and WisDOT will replace the Highway 243 bridge over the Saint Croix River. The two departments host a public meeting Monday, Sept. 21 from 5 to 7 pm at Osceola High School in Osceola, Wisconsin. The 1953 structure carries Highway 243 between Chisago and Washington counties in Minnesota and Polk County in Wisconsin, and the replacement goes in the same location. The project adds a pedestrian and bicycle path connecting Osceola Landing to the village of Osceola. The bridge closes to traffic later this fall so crews can remove the existing span, and completion is anticipated in fall 2028. The north boat launch at Osceola Landing closes Sept. 14 to serve as a construction staging area.
Source: MnDOT, Sept. 10
BIZ Construction materials prices rose 1.2% in August. The index is up 8.9% over 12 months, and materials for nonresidential construction are up 8.8% over the same period. Copper wire and cable is up 27.2% over the year, steel mill products 23.4%, and crude petroleum 34.9%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported overall final demand up 0.4% for the month and 5.4% over 12 months in its Sept. 10 release, which carried no separate construction figure. Jeffrey Shoaf, chief executive of the Associated General Contractors of America, said firms are “caught between pricing themselves out of the market or performing work at a loss.”
Sources: Engineering News-Record, Sept. 10; Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sept. 10
POLICY The comment period on rescinding the Roadless Rule runs to Oct. 6. The Agriculture Department published the extension today, moving the deadline from Sept. 21. The proposal it published Aug. 20 would rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule by removing and reserving 36 CFR part 294, subpart B. That rule imposed what the department calls “broad prohibitions on road construction, road reconstruction, and timber harvesting” inside inventoried roadless areas covering 58.5 million acres of National Forest System land. The docket is FS-2025-0001, RIN 0596-AD66.
Sources: Federal Register, Sept. 11; Federal Register, Aug. 20
ENG The World Trade Center investigation is still in the building codes. Twenty-five years after the attacks, the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s inquiry into the towers stands behind 31 recommendations, 40 changes to International Code Council codes, and 15 changes to National Fire Protection Association standards. They reach exit stairwells, emergency elevators, fire-resistive materials, fire protection systems, and structural resistance to collapse. Writing in ASCE’s Civil Engineering this month, four WSP structural engineers describe the shift as a move away from highly efficient structural systems toward ductility and redundancy. New York City’s 2008 code added alternate load path analysis and structural peer review for buildings over 600 feet.
Sources: NIST, World Trade Center Investigation; ASCE, Civil Engineering, Sept. 1
Preliminary entries for ACEC Minnesota’s 60th annual Engineering Excellence Awards are due Thursday, Oct. 8, with winning projects recognized at the Feb. 18, 2027 gala, and the four-session Emerging Leaders program for early-career staff runs this October and November.
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