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VOLUME 11 ISSUE 5
$5.99 September October 2022 Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community. . . Then & Now
GREEN VALLEY: A “MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR BOONDOGGLE” THAT MADE GOOD SOUTHERN ARIZONA’S MEANDERING MAIN STREET: U.S. HIGHWAY 80 TUCSON’S ROB PAULUS: ARCHITECT, DEVELOPER & MUSICIAN A RIVETED-ALUMINUM TRAILER WONDERLAND: BISBEE’S SHADY DELL WORLD WAR II B-29 SUPERFORTRESS DELIVERS LIQUOR TO NOGALES
Arizona’s Timeless Magazine
BOMBS, BOOKS, AND TUMBLEWEEDS: WATER WOES IN WILLCOX
FOCUS ON SOUTHERN ARIZONA WHEN ROYDEN CONSTRUCTION BUILT WHETSTONE OVERPASS ON U.S. HIGHWAY 80 AMES CONSTRUCTION FINISHES NOGALES HIGHWAY
SUBCONTRACTOR DEFAULT INSURANCE VS. SURETY BONDS
GRANITE/BORDERLANDS WORK ON TUCSON’S DOWNTOWN LINKS
SMART GRAVEL: CONSTRUCTION USING POTATO CHIP BAGS
MCCARTHY COMPLETES SKY HARBOR CONCOURSE
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Contributors Alison Bailin Batz Sean Clements Erica Frazelle Michael Graham Mehdi Nourbakhsh Sebastian Sajoux Luke M. Snell Doug Sydnor
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Subscriptions: Online at arizcc.com Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community… Then & Now Arizona Contractor & Community (ACC) magazine is published bi-monthly (Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr, May/June, July/Aug, Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec). ACC is a professional publication designed for the contracting industry, engineers, architects, equipment rentals, suppliers, and others interested in Arizona and its history. Content including text, photographs or illustrations may not be reproduced without the written permission from the publisher. The publisher does not assume responsibility for unsolicited submissions. ACC reserves the right to reject any editorial and advertising material and reserves the right to edit all submitted content material. Arizona Contractor & Community Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved.
September October 2022
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Contributors - Sean Clements & Sebastian Sajoux From The Editor: Bombs, Books, and Tumbleweeds: Water Woes in Willcox - Douglas Towne Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices Back When: B-29 Delivers Liquor to Nogales Douglas Towne Green Valley: Tucson’s Senior Community That Initially Lacked “Greenbacks” - Douglas Towne Southern Arizona’s Meandering Main Street: U.S. Highway 80 - Douglas Towne Building Our Futures: KE&G Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary! - Special Advertising Section Reborn Evangelist: Aimee Semple McPherson’s Baffling Escape near Douglas - Douglas Towne A Riveted-Aluminum Wonderland: Bisbee’s Shady Dell Vintage Trailer Park - Douglas Towne Old School Equipment: Caterpillar 641 Scraper Billy Horner Building on the Past: 1953: Whetstone Overpass on U.S. Highway 80 Architect’s Perspective - Rob Paulus, AIA: Architect, Developer & Musician - Doug Sydnor, FAIA Digging Through the Archives: Jebco’s Experimental Mass Excavator - Billy Horner
92
Bid Results
94
Advertising Index
Front Cover Royden Construction equipment filling and compacting the approach to the Whetstone Overpass on U.S. Highway 80, 1953. Article on page 80
TWELVE
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Contents
September October 2022
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FOURTEEN
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SEAN CLEMENTS ARTICLE ON PAGE 41
SEBASTIAN SAJOUX ARTICLE ON PAGE 43
S
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ean joined HUB International in 2020 as part of the Clements Insurance and HUB Southwest acquisition and works out of their Scottsdale office. He has been in the insurance industry since 2006, focusing on the healthcare, hospitality, and construction industries. Sean holds Certified Insurance Counselor, Construction Risk and Insurance Specialist, and Commercial Lines Coverage Specialist designations, which help to better serve his clients by providing a consultative approach to the different potential risks. He finds great purpose in finding the best solutions for his clients while working to keep up to date with the rapidly changing field. Prior to his insurance career, Sean worked in the Consumer Packaged Goods industry for Coors Brewing Company in Charlotte, NC. In 2006 he moved back to Arizona to work in the family insurance business. Sean is a native Arizonan who grew up in Tucson and graduated from Pepperdine University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 2000. In his spare time, Sean enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters and playing golf. Sean has served on several Agent Advisory Boards for different insurance companies and currently sits on the Board of Directors for “Friends of Aphasia.” This non-profit supports a disorder affecting people’s ability to communicate after a stroke or head injury.
ebastian Sajoux is a green tech founder who is tackling the plastic pollution crisis. His mission began while working as a consultant in Argentina when he began considering a way to solve the problem of plastics that rot in landfills but never decompose. Sebastian subsequently moved to California, where he opened the Arqlite production facility in Santa Ana and began converting non-recyclable materials, like potato chip bags, into Smart Gravel for construction. This is an eco-friendly replacement for traditional gravel that has both commercial and residential applications. The company’s mission is to drive positive change by delivering a truly scalable solution. Arqlite’s unique production process enables the upcycling of all types of plastics, particularly multi-layer plastics that are not easily recycled, and the improvement of sustainability metrics at a cost that is competitive with landfill tipping fees. Thanks to partnerships with manufacturers and waste industry operators, Arqlite is removing thousands of tons of plastics that would otherwise end up in landfills and turning them into a sustainable solution with major environmental upsides. Sebastian is passionate about the environment and almost obsessed with solving the problem of plastics. During his free time, he enjoys relaxing at the beach or spending time at one of the many parks in Irvine, where he lives with his wife and young son. September October 2022
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EDITOR’S COLUMN:
BOMBS, BOOKS, AND TUMBLEWEEDS: WATER WOES IN WILLCOX DOUGLAS TOWNE
I
t’s tough to win a popularity contest in southeast Arizona, competing against the likes of Tombstone, the “Town Too Tough to Die,” Bisbee, aka “Mayberry on Acid,” and the wine capital of Arizona, Sonoita. Even Benson now touts Kartchner Caverns, one of the jewels of the state park system. Willcox, it seems, is a town destined to be overlooked. Travelers who spend time there are probably avian admirers drawn by the autumn arrival of thousands of sandhill cranes at the nearby Willcox Playa. This typically dry, pork-chop-shaped lake bed was once used by the U.S. Army Air Force as a bombing range during World War II. After large explosions reportedly broke windows in town, the playa was downgraded to a gunnery range before closing.
The community’s two modest museums might entice some visitors to exit Interstate 10 and look around. One features the town’s favorite son, Rex Allen, who starred as a singing cowboy during the waning days of the Western in the 1950s. Admission is only $3 to the labor of love operated by volunteers. The same is true for the Chiricahua Regional Museum, which spotlights local history in the former Valley Hardware building, once my “go-to” place for emergency floral supplies. Americana fans visit Willcox’s First Family, an oversized fiberglass trio who spin in the wind while holding their burgers and mugs of root beer. Carter’s Drive-In repurposed the former A&W figures, who now incongruously attract customers to Adolfo’s Taco Shop.
My introduction to Willcox almost 40 years ago was inspired by a Cochise County Cooperative Extension paper on the basin’s agricultural crisis. Farmers had pulled twothirds of local cropland out of production during the preceding six years. Looking for a research project after landing at the University of Arizona, I decided to investigate the collapse. The cause proved simple: economics. Electric rates had increased to the point that pumping groundwater to irrigate crops was often not profitable, given the vagaries of commodity prices and weather. But farmland retirement did not occur randomly. Fields with marginal soils or deeper groundwater tended to be the first to
Images Courtesy of Author
Left: Babcock Inn spring break crew at Carter’s Drive-In (l-r sitting) Ann Yonemura, Carol Lipsmire, Debbie Vesco, Margaret-Mary Kehoe, Susan Olsen, Joe Davis, Mary Christenson, and Lori Nones, (l-r standing) John Fong, Chris Cornell, Dave Fenster, and Douglas Towne, 1985. Bottom left: Carter’s Drive-In, 1995. Below: Maureen Towne at Carter’s Drive-In, 1999.
Top right: Douglas Towne taking shelter at Willcox Playa, 1999. Top left: Rex Allen stars in Shadows of Tombstone, 1953.
SIXTEEN
September October 2022
Above: Former Valley Hardware store, 1999. Top right: Cochise Recreation Area ad, 1963. Right: Western Water Made Simple book cover, 1986.
revert to tumbleweeds. For soil geeks, this meant that farm production likely continued in Grabe loam but not in Gothard fine sandy loam. The latter soil wasn’t suitable for irrigated agriculture and should never have been plowed in the first place. Uncovering these patterns enabled me to churn out a master’s thesis that few would ever read. However, I converted that research into “Shrink to Fit,” a chapter in the book Western Water Made Simple, which won the George Polk Award for Environmental Reporting in 1986. In the book, I forecast a crop evolution from alfalfa and cotton to fruit and nuts, which has partially come to pass. Water availability had been an issue in Willcox since at least the mid-1960s when “The Magnificent Cochise Recreation Area” was publicized as a “Shangri-La” retirement community. Ads touted a championship golf course, fishing in the 50-acre Lake Cochise, water skiing on the 80-acre Lake Geronimo, and services such as electricity, water, telephone, and garbage collection for residential lots. But the development, operated by a Florida land firm, was accused of using deception to sell lots in the 4,175-unit subdivision and went belly up, according to The Arizona Republic in 1976. The article noted that utility services were never installed, Lake Cochise had been dry for three years, and Lake Geronimo was “a shallow and briny body of water inadequate for the water sports described in the company’s promotional literature.” The project’s remnants include undeveloped lots available for back taxes, the arizcc.com
nine-hole Twin Lakes Golf Course, and a bird refuge called Cochise Lake, which actually contains water these days thanks to effluent from the city’s wastewater treatment plant. The Willcox area still makes news because of water—or more accurately, the lack of it. The typical story involves a family’s shallow domestic well running dry, often with finger-pointing at nearby
deep and thirsty, large-capacity wells recently drilled by agribusiness or commercial operations. These tales highlight the unwritten rule of groundwater in rural Arizona: the outfit with the deepest straw stuck into the earth wins. It’s certainly not fair, and fixing it will be problematic. But it’s a reality people need to be aware of, and not just around Willcox.
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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects
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domestic markets by avoiding three traffic signals. Important facets of the project are two flyover ramps connecting SR 189 with Interstate 19. The concrete piers supporting the ramps have an abstract butterfly design cascading down their sides. he North American monarch butterfly is “This design shows how these butnow classified as endangered because terflies cluster together on tree trunks,” of habitat loss and climate change, accordJoseph R. Salazar, the project aesthetic ing to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Every autumn, this Above: State Route 189 construction. remarkable insect migrates 3,000 miles Right: State Route 189 concrete pier with south from its breeding grounds to spend monarch migration design. the winter in the forests of southwestern Below: Monarch migration. Mexico. But, a recent highway project in Nogales aims to help the monarchs, both symbolically and concretely. The $134-million revamp of four miles of State Route 189, also known as Mariposa Road, between the international border and Grand Avenue in Nogales will aid the community. Some benefits include easing local traffic congestion and speeding the importation of Mexican produce to
AMES CONSTRUCTION “FLOATS LIKE A BUTTERFLY” AFTER FINISHING NOGALES HIGHWAY
Image Courtesy of Pacific Grove Museum
T
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September October 2022
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manager, told ADOT in 2020. In addition, three-dimensional metal butterflies will be attached as accent icons on the concrete retaining walls. “I decided to incorporate the monarch butterfly because it represents movement and transportation, which ties in with the busy Nogales Port of Entry that has a lot of trade going back and forth,” Salazar said. Ames Construction of Scottsdale and Horrocks Engineers of Tucson were the “design-build” team for the SR 189 project, assisted by Wilson & Company, Inc., Engineers & Architects providing supplemental surveying, lighting design, and quality assurance. The improvements to enhance traffic flow and safety included widening 3 miles of SR 189, constructing traffic signals and an oversized roundabout that could accommodate two semis traveling side by side, building flyover ramps, and improving drainage. In addition, the project shunts an estimated 360,000 commercial trucks per year from local streets in Nogales. The project was not without its difficulties. “The structures portion of the project is a challenge technically, which Ames loves, and will provide very unique aesthetics for the region upon completion,” Paul Arnold, vice president for Ames Construction Southwest Region, told ADOT. One major hurdle was being unable to redirect traffic during construction, which necessitated arizcc.com
lots of nighttime work. Another issue was that because portions of the flyovers were located in a wash, the design and construction needed to handle a 100-year flood. Even more vital than the monarch designs used in the project is the new highway’s landscaping, which includes milkweed shrubs, which are the primary food source for the monarchs. SR 189 highway landscaping featuring milkweed looks to be a precedent for broader applications.
A recent nationwide Candidate Conservation Agreement to conserve and enhance monarch butterfly habitat, including providing vital vegetation such as milkweed, is gaining momentum across the country. “ADOT supported the development of the agreement and is working on identifying monarch butterfly habitat areas in rights of way around the state,” Kris Gade, an ADOT roadside resources specialist, said.
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