VOLUME 12 ISSUE 4
$5.99 JULY AUGUST 2023 SERVING CONTRACTING FIRMS AND THE ARIZONA COMMUNITY. . . THEN & NOW
TIMBER! ARIZONA’S RUGGED LOGGING AND LUMBER HERITAGE TUCSON’S 66-YEAR CONSTRUCTION HOTSPOT: GRANT ROAD LUMBER TIMBER TRAINS: DISCOVERING TRACES OF FLAGSTAFF’S GHOST RAILROAD JOHN W. “JAY” LATTIMORE: A BIGHEARTED CONCRETE CONTRACTOR A TRIBUTE TO LONGTIME CONSTRUCTION PROFESSIONAL PHIL BERGER SALUTING ARIZONA’S BUILDERS: ACE ASPHALT’S JOHN DREXLER
Arizona’s Timeless Magazine Arizona’s Timeless Magazine
A TRANSPLANTED LOGGING TOWN:
THE CURIOUS ORIGIN OF McNARY, ARIZONA
WEITZ FLIES HIGH WITH SKY HARBOR UPGRADES
ASU-DESIGNED FIBER CONCRETE SPEEDS PHOENIX LIGHT RAIL
NITTI BUILDERS “NETS” NEW HOME FOR ROAD MACHINERY
OPUS GROUP EXPANDS CONFLUENCE INDUSTRIAL PARK
METROCENTER HOSTS FAREWELL SHINDIG
Est. 1994
GRADING/ PAVING CONCRETE UNDERGROUND UTILITIES
Weekend at Bernie’s
CONTACT US
11535 E. Germann Road, Chandler, AZ 85286 | 480.732.9238 www.dcscontracting.com
BJC TRANSPORTATION
Editor Douglas Towne douglas@arizcc.com
American Graffiti
& WATER TRUCK RENTAL
WE OFFER WATER TRUCK RENTALS BOTH SHORT AND LONG TERM!
OPERATED TRUCKS AVAILABLE CALL SCOTT 480-665-1665
Publisher Billy Horner billy@arizcc.com
FAVORITE SUMMER MOVIE?
Contributors Mark Edelman Bull Durham Abel Gaytan The Good, the Bad Justin Liggin and the Ugly E.T. the Carlos Lozano Extra-Terrestrial Luke M. Snell Men in Black Doug Sydnor American Graffiti Cheryl Wamsley Dirty Dancing
Production Manager Laura Horner laura@arizcc.com
In Memoriam Charles “Chuck” Runbeck 1928 - 2020
Advertising 602-931-0069 arizcc.com/advertise 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 © 2023 All rights reserved.
TEN
JULY AUGUST 2023
BUILDING OUR FUTURES
Serving all of Arizona KE&G CONSTRUCTION, INC.
SIERRA VISTA: 1601 Paseo San Luis # 202 Sierra Vista, Arizona 85635 520.458.9594 www.kegtus.com TUCSON: 3949 East Irvington Road Tucson, Arizona 85714 520.748.0188
SPECIALTY COMPANIES GROUP
UTILITY ADJUSTMENTS
There Is Nothing We Can’t Do. There Is No Place We Won’t Go. Contact us anytime!
SPECIALTYCOMPANIESGROUP.COM
ARIZCC.COM
623-582-2385
ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY
Contents
“TELL US WHAT YOU NEED AND WE WILL WORK WITH YOU TO MAKE IT HAPPEN”
39
YEARS IN BUSINESS SINCE 1984
480-641-3500
BELLY DUMP-SUPER 16-END DUMP-LOW BOY SIDE DUMP-EXCAVATOR-LOADER-GRADER
14
Contributors - Justin Liggin & Carlos Lozano
16
From The Editor: Timber Trains: Discovering Traces of Flagstaff’s Ghost Railroad - Douglas Towne
19
Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices
47
Back When: Park Central’s Wooden Funhouse Douglas Towne
48
Timber! - Arizona’s Rugged Logging and Lumber Heritage Douglas Towne
54
A Transplanted Logging Town: The Curious Origin of McNary, Arizona - Douglas Towne
58
Tucson’s Construction Hotspot for 66 Years: Grant Road Lumber - Carlos Lozano
62
Saluting Arizona’s Builders: John Drexler
66
John W. “Jay” Lattimore: A Bighearted Concrete Contractor - Cheryl Wamsley
70
John W. Lattimore: Building a Solid Foundation in Arizona Billy Horner
76
Old School Equipment: The Logging Truck Billy Horner
80
Building on the Past - 1960s: Del Webb’s Rail Cranes Billy Horner
82
Architect’s Perspective - James T. Flynn, AIA: Delivering Permanence - Doug Sydnor, FAIA
86
Digging Through the Archives: Rock ‘n’ Roll Influences Sidewalk Construction - Billy Horner
92
Bid Results
94
Advertising Index
Front Cover Employee moving logs on the McNary sawmill pond, 1949. Article on page 54 Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community
TWELVE
JULY AUGUST 2023
REUTER
fabrication inc. 3816 W Lower Buckeye Rd. PO Box 19042 Phoenix, AZ 85005-9042
WWW.SUNLANDASPHALT.COM
602.323.2800
Reuter Fabrication provides custom metal fabrication services. We have sixty years’ experience in the metal fabrication industry. Let our qualified personal bid and build your special job. This state of the art facility is equipped to fabricate numerous projects, i.e. conveyors, silos, metal forming, shearing, chassis, platforms, walkways, access ladders & machining.
CONSTRUCTION & MAINTENANCE SERVICES » CRACK SEALING » SEALCOATING » ASPHALT REPAIRS » CHIP SEAL » MILLING/PULVERIZING
» PAVING & OVERLAYS » EARTHWORK & GRADING » UNDERGROUND UTILITIES » CONCRETE STRUCTURES/ FLATWORK
For Information Contact: Brent Reuter (623) 695-1204 • brentr@rec-reuter.com www.reuterequipment.com
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ARIZCC.COM
ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY
CONTRIBUTORS
JUSTIN LIGGIN ARTICLE ON PAGE 37
CARLOS LOZANO ARTICLE ON PAGE 58
ustin Liggin is an account hicago native Carlos Lozano JRelations, executive for HMA Public Cwas taught early to apprean award-winning ciate the built environment
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full-service public relations agency and marketing communications firm headquartered in the greater Phoenix area. At HMA, Liggin’s responsibilities include social media management, digital communications, graphic design, and media relations for agency clients. Liggin has previously served as a team lead in the Public Relations Lab at The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU, where he received agency experience and assisted in creating a strategic external campaign, conducted client meetings, planned and executed social media content. He also received digital experience while participating in the school’s Digital Audiences Lab – a professional program aimed at creating data-driven growth strategies for clients. His duties included conducting social media campaigns, managing search engine optimization testing, and creating written, video and graphic content. In 2021, graduated from ASU with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism with an emphasis in public relations and a minor in digital audiences. Liggin also received a certificate in marketing and sales from the W.P. Carey School of Business. A Phoenix native, Liggin loves to go to the movies, read, listen to music, and spend time with friends and family. He is also interested in tennis and is a Williams sisters superfan!
by his father, architect Adrian Lozano. They watched as urban renewal and market forces replaced vibrant ethnic neighborhoods and much of Chicago’s grand and dignified architecture. But the beauty of the desert, not architecture, lured him to Tucson in 1985. He founded an engineering search firm in Tucson and explored Southern Arizona on weekends. Appalled by the “newer is better” development philosophy of the West, he began working on local historic preservation efforts, including wonderful “lost causes” such as plans to save Tucson’s last drive-in movie theater and independent, hand-built, minigolf course. Lozano has served for nearly ten years on the Tucson-Pima County Historical Commission. He chairs the Transportation Subcommittee (protecting the commercial corridor) and chaired the Historic Landmark Sign committee, which successfully amended Tucson’s onerous Sign Code, allowing and encouraging the preservation of vintage neon. He studied Neon/Illuminated Sculpture at “The Crucible” in Oakland under Christian Schiess. One of the Arizona Historical Society’s longest-tenured Library & Archives volunteers, Lozano helps patrons and teaches workshops on historic property research. He presents, consults, and writes on various local history topics. His website, VanishingTucson.com, is currently transitioning into a platform to host his many oral history recordings. JULY AUGUST 2023
servicing Arizona’s construction industry since 1996!
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6975 N. Camino Martin, Tuscon, AZ 85741 O:520-579-0261 | F:520-579-0268 JULY AUGUST 2023
Projects . PEOPLE . PRACTICES
ASU-DESIGNED FIBER-REINFORCED CONCRETE SPEEDS PHOENIX LIGHT RAIL CONSTRUCTION
U
sing fiber-reinforced concrete instead of rebar-supported slabs for constructing Metro Phoenix light rail extensions gives rapid transit new meaning. Months of construction time are being reduced to weeks, adding cost savings, sustainability, and worker safety to the mix. A collaboration between Arizona State University, the Phoenix Valley Metro Regional Transportation Authority, and Kiewit-McCarthy, the project’s construction firm, began with a materials upgrade proposal from Barzin Mobasher, an ASU professor of structural engineering in the ARIZCC.COM
School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment. The project, which extended the light rail by 1.5 miles, incorporated the fiber-reinforced concrete design and was completed in early May. Reinforcing bar, or rebar, is made of steel and embedded in concrete to strengthen structures. According to Mobasher, more than 60 percent of the volume of concrete used worldwide has zero tensile efficiency and cannot carry
CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects
CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA
Images Courtesy of Charlie LeightASU News
load. This weakness makes concrete used in load-bearing structures like the light rail susceptible to cracks, which begin very small and grow unhindered until there is a fault in the structure. Incorporating rebar provides the load-bearing strength required for most concrete-based construction. However,
Above: Workers prepare to pour the last section of concrete for the northern spur of the light rail line north of Dunlap Avenue on 25th Avenue. Right: Thin steel and polypropylene fibers used in the concrete mixture for Phoenix Valley Metro’s light rail extension. ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY