Four Corners 14 July 12, 2026

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Suncore Nears Finishing UDOT’s $91M I-15 Hamilton Fort Rebuild Project

By Irwin Rapoport

CEG CORRESPONDENT

A Cat 374 excavator lifts a large rock.

Numerous cranes lift a bridge girder into place.

Suncore expects to deliver the Utah Department of Transportation’s (UDOT) $91.1 million Interstate 15 Hamilton Fort interchange and climbing lane project south of Cedar City in Iron County in late fall.

The design-bid-build project, financed by state funds, began in spring 2025.

Crews are adding a northbound climbing lane to an existing 13-m.-long two-lane road from the Kanarraville rest stop to the South Cedar Interchange (milepost 43 to 56) and reconstructing the northbound east side of the Hamilton Fort interchange (Exit 51) with a roundabout.

“The project was needed to improve safety and traffic

operations on one of Utah’s most heavily traveled freight and tourism corridors,” Devin Squire, UDOT’s project manager, told Construction Equipment Guide. “Northbound I-15 climbs approximately 3,000 feet in elevation between St. George and Cedar City, where slow-moving trucks create bottlenecks and long vehicle platoons. The additional lane provides dedicated space for heavy vehicles while allowing passenger traffic to maintain more consistent speeds. The improvements to the interchange enhance access and reduce conflict points.”

Crews are rebuilding the northbound side of the interchange bridge, including constructing a new bridge deck and making structural improvements, Squire said. That work also improves the bridge clearance and extends the structure’s service life.

“This section of I-15 is one of the most critical transportation corridors in southern Utah, serving local, regional, interstate and international travel,” he said. “It is the primary north-south freeway connecting the rapidly growing communities of St. George, Cedar City and Iron County with the Wasatch Front, Nevada, Arizona and California. The corridor carries substantial freight traffic and provides access to major destinations.”

A multidisciplinary consultant team headed by Avenue Consultants Inc. completed the design in 2024, which required tweaking.

“A major high-pressure natural gas transmission line conflicted with the proposed improvements, requiring extensive coordination with the utility company to develop a relocation plan that aligned with the project’s schedule while minimizing delays,” Squire said. “In addition, an existing waterline had an uncertain location despite available records, requiring additional investigation, coordination and flexibility during design to reduce the risk of conflicts during construction. see HAMILTON page 6

Page 2 • July 12, 2026 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • Four Corners States Supplement • Construction Equipment Guide

ReadyDig Expands Presence Throughout Colorado

ReadyDig CEO Jeff Saad

ReadyDig President Loren Fehr

ReadyDig HQ in Hudson, Colo.

ReadyDig has established itself as a growing presence in Colorado’s equipment market.

Operating from locations in Hudson, Greeley and Yuma, the dealership offers a lineup of construction and agricultural equipment while supporting customers through sales, rentals, parts and service.

As the exclusive authorized XCMG dealer in Colorado, ReadyDig serves contractors, farmers, ranchers, landscapers and fleet operators statewide.

ReadyDig was established in 2024 following the rebranding of MTC Equipment under the leadership of President Loren Fehr and CEO Jeff Saad. According to Lea ElHage Boutros and Ramy Nassar, marketing managers of ReadyDig, the company name establishes the dealership’s commitment to equipment uptime and customer support, to ensure machines remain ready to work when customers need them most.

Since the transition, ReadyDig has expanded from its Hudson headquarters to three locations and grown to more than 70 employees. The company now serves customers across a wide range of industries, from landscapers to agricultural producers and construction contractors.

ReadyDig’s equipment offering has expanded significantly in recent years. As Colorado’s exclusive authorized XCMG dealer, the company provides customers access to the manufacturer’s lineup of excavators, wheel loaders, compact equipment and other construction machinery.

In addition, ReadyDig represents Yanmar, Toro, JLG, CLAAS and Kioti. The company also offers a selection of attachments designed for construction, agricultural and land management applications.

The lineup allows customers to source equipment for a variety of projects through a single dealership. From compact equipment and tractors to excavators, wheel loaders and aerial equipment, ReadyDig serves customers across construction and agricultural markets.

El-Hage Boutros and Nassar described the dealership’s approach as a one-stop shop designed to help customers find equipment

The company offers the full XCMG equipment line.

that best fits their specific needs.

While the equipment offerings have expanded, El-Hage Boutros and Nassar said service and customer support remain at the center of ReadyDig’s business model.

A key component of that strategy is the dealership’s uptime guarantee for XCMG equipment. Under the program, a technician is dispatched within 24 hours when service is required. If the machine cannot be repaired within a specified timeframe, ReadyDig provides a loaner machine so customers can continue working while repairs are completed.

El-Hage Boutros and Nassar said the program was developed with the understanding that equipment downtime can have significant costly consequences for contractors.

“For every hour a machine is down, that’s a big cost,” El-Hage Boutros and Nassar said. “It’s important the machine keeps working because it means the job’s

getting done.”

ReadyDig also employs factory-trained technicians who receive manufacturer training to support the equipment lines the dealership represents.

El-Hage Boutros and Nassar emphasized the value of personal relationships. According to them, sales personnel work closely with customers and often know them by name, helping contractors, farmers and ranchers identify equipment that fits their operations.

The dealership believes that approach helps establish trust and creates a more personalized experience for customers.

ReadyDig continues to expand its presence across Colorado while strengthening the support services that have become central to its business. El-Hage Boutros and Nassar said the combination of equipment availability, responsive service and strong customer relationships continues to drive the dealership’s growth across the state.  (All photos courtesy of ReadyDig.)

Construction Equipment Guide • Four Corners States Supplement • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • July 12, 2026 • Page 3

Studio Southwest Architects rendering

The $170 million Eddy County Detention Center will house 400 beds, with expansion available to add 400 more beds.

Eddy County, N.M., Breaks Ground On $170M Jail With Major Capacity to Expand Construction of a new detention center is under way in Eddy County, N.M., after an April 21, 2026, groundbreaking ceremony that marked the start of a $170 million project slated to move the county jail out of downtown Carlsbad, according to the Artesia Daily Press.

County officials, designers from Studio Southwest Architects and contractors from Bradbury Stamm Construction were present for the ceremony.

The 142,000-sq.-ft. complex is being built across from the Eddy County Sheriff’s Office south of Carlsbad. It will take an expected three years to build.

Plans call for 400 beds, with the possibility of an extra 50,000 sq. ft. of housing space to increase to an 800-bed capacity, according to the Artesia Daily Press.

Studio Southwest Architects said the detention center will include prefabricated housing modules, dorm-style configurations to support visibility and interaction and shared day room spaces that help encourage daily activity and minimize isolated areas.

There also will be dedicated staff and operations spaces, such as intake, training rooms and administrative offices that support alternative sentencing unit (ASU) and driving while impaired (DWI) programs, according to the Artesia Daily Press.

The county selected Albuquerque, N.M.-based contractor Bradbury Stamm Construction earlier this year to build the new facility.

County Commissioner James Bowen told the Artesia Daily Press that the existing downtown site, which dates to 1993 and was designed for approximately 70 inmates, would be difficult to expand, with area development continuing. Officials also said the current facility is in poor shape and doesn’t meet modern safety or operational standards.

“A lot has changed since 1993. We’re not the same place that we were in 1993. The jail needs to be out of the center of town,” Bowen told the Artesia Daily Press.

The paper reported that the project will be one of the largest construction projects in the state, with funding reportedly coming from a mixture of the county building fund and federal dollars.

Robert Maze of Studio Southwest told the Artesia Daily Press that the design process must account for community growth and changing technology.

Cynthia Schulz, CEO of Bradbury Stamm, also described the jail as “a huge investment” for the county.

“This is a milestone event that has been years in the making,” said Eddy County Manager Mike Gallagher, according to an article from the Artesia Daily Press. “There is great support for this day.”

Other firms involved during the design and development process include Dewberry, Chavez-Grieves Consulting Engineers, Consensus Planning and Ricca Design Studios. 

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Page 4 • July 12, 2026 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • Four Corners States Supplement • Construction Equipment Guide

Construction Equipment Guide • Four Corners States Supplement • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • July 12, 2026 • Page 5

Page 6 • July 12, 2026 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • Four Corners States Supplement • Construction Equipment Guide

Warm, Dry Winter Enables Construction Year-Round HAMILTON from page 1

“The project corridor is also known for areas of weak subgrade soils,” he added. “To address these geotechnical conditions, the design incorporated contingencies and pavement and structure design considerations to accommodate potential soft spots encountered during construction, helping reduce risk, maintain the project schedule and improve the long-term performance of the roadway.”

Squire noted that the pavement has a 20- to 30-year service life before major rehabilitation is required, while the roundabout lifespan is 50-plus years and the bridge is 75-plus years.

The interchange bridge was designed for staged, halfwidth construction.

“One half of the new bridge could be constructed while traffic continued to use the existing structure,” Squire said.

“Once complete, traffic was shifted onto the newly constructed bridge half, allowing the remaining portion of the bridge to be reconstructed. This phased approach maintained traffic operations throughout construction while improving worker safety and reducing the need for extended lane closures or detours.”

The first construction season was anticipated to occur between June and October last year. However, Utah experienced an unusually warm and dry winter and, as a result, crews continued work through the winter season.

Suncore equipment operators and assorted personnel have ample space to work in many sites without being impeded by traffic. This provides opportunities to establish layout yards, store materials and set up field offices and areas to park equipment. It also allows for a fleet of pickup trucks to carry crews and smaller pieces of equipment and tools.

“Waste areas were planned during the design phase at locations through the project, and Suncore has been able to utilize those,” Squire said. “By minimizing haul distances, the project reduced trucking costs, fuel consumption, construction time and impacts to the surrounding roadway network, resulting in both cost savings and improved construction efficiency.”

Suncore has completed the following: all widening sections to the inside of the freeway, the rest area paving and the northern quarter of the outside widening. Half of the new bridge is complete.

“The project is experiencing steady progress, with only limited issues arising that require minor or routine attention,”

Once the excavation and site prep crews complete the long sections, paving crews are dispatched.

Squire said. “No major concerns or delays are currently impacting the work. The Hamilton Fort interchange is a low point in the area and, with the project lowering it even further, it is prone to filling up with water until the storm drain work has been completed. To account for this, the construction documents required pumps of a certain capacity to be on site during any impacts to the pre-construction drainage so that they could be utilized if needed.

“Soft spots continue to be an issue on the project,” he added. “Pop-up springs and boggy areas have to be addressed by over-excavation and the utilization of additional material and geosynthetic material.”

The 180-ft.-wide single-lane roundabout is being built on a 2.25-acre site.

Before that work, the interchange contained I-15 on- and off-ramps that were connected to the two-lane frontage road (Old Highway 91) that heads under the twin 108-ft.-long, single-span concrete bridges.

The new roundabout, with a gravel-covered center section surrounded by a shoulder, is connected to the existing roads.

The on- and off-ramps, 2,000 and 1,200 ft. long, are being rebuilt, with completion expected in late fall.

Crews are installing a new storm drain system with drop inlets through the roundabout and roadway.

“All lanes are asphalt,” Squire said. “The roundabout will have a concrete apron.”

The roundabout has an 18-ft. lane with a 15-ft. truck apron and a 55-ft. embankment. Other lane widths are 12 ft.

Materials-wise, high-modulus hot mix asphalt (HMMA) is

The project corridor is known for areas of weak subgrade soils.

being used in the roadway sections. The pavement structure includes HMMA, a UDOT-specified untreated base course, granular borrow material and geosynthetics, including a separation geotextile.

“Concrete will be supplied from Suncore’s Cedar City batching plant and transported by truck to the project site,” Squire said. “Placement operations will be coordinated with field paving activities to ensure continuous delivery, proper consolidation and compliance with UDOT specifications for temperature, timing and finishing.”

The third-lane construction on northbound I-15 began in spring 2025 The excavation operation removing the earth and rock encountered a major outcropping of basalt that was pried and hammered out, broken into small chunks by excavators with attached hammers and then hauled away in dump trucks.

The new lane and shoulder are based on HMMA paving, UDOT spec base course and granular borrow, and UDOT spec geosynthetics and separation geotextile.

Once the excavation and site prep crews complete the long sections, paving crews are dispatched, while the excavation crews move to a new section.

For the excavation work, large excavators, including Cat models, removed earth and rock and placed the material into a variety of adjacent loaders. Also on hand are rock trucks, trackhoes, Grove cranes, graders, side dumps, dump trucks, skid steers, pavers, rollers, millers, water trucks, dozers, rubber wheel backhoes, shuttle buggies and tandem smooth drum compactors. Mack trucks have several types of loaders attached.

The northbound Hamilton Fort bridge reconstruction started with the demolition of the east side. The new structure will be 153 ft. long, with one span.

“The new bridge is significantly wider than the old one,” Squire said. “Abutments were placed on drilled shafts.”

The new bridge has seven steel girders. Four were placed on the east side by two large-wheeled cranes stationed on either end of the bridge. A Grove crane positioned on the road below placed the diaphragm steel gussets between the girders.

Ruesch Machine supplied the two non-Grove cranes for the girder lifts. Other equipment used there included drill rigs.  CEG (All photos courtesy of the Utah Department of Transportation.)

The new roundabout, with a gravel-covered center section surrounded by a shoulder, is connected to the existing roads.

Construction Equipment Guide • Four Corners States Supplement • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • July 12, 2026 • Page 7

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Officials Break Ground On New Mexico Reforestation Federal, state and local officials gathered with community members in Mora County on April 27, 2026, to break ground on the New Mexico Reforestation Center (NMRC), marking a turning point for forest management in New Mexico.

NMRC is a collaborative project founded by New Mexico State University, New Mexico Highlands University, the University of New Mexico, and the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department’s Forestry Division.

Enterprise Builders Corp. is serving as the contractor.

The groundbreaking marks the start of construction on the multimilliondollar facility that will significantly boost reforestation capacity across the Southwest in the critical areas of seed collection and storage, nursery production and planting.

“In New Mexico and the broader Southwest, our forests are water and climate infrastructure, and the NMRC nursery facility at Mora is how we begin restoring our forests at a scale that will impact our landscapes for generations to come,” NMRC Director Jenn Auchter said. “Once built to full capacity, NMRC will be the largest tree nursery in the region, and what makes this effort possible is that NMSU, NMHU,

UNM and the Forestry Division are doing this work together.

The fully built NMRC will have the capacity to produce up to 5 million tree seedlings per year and house a comprehensive seed bank to support reforestation needs across New Mexico and the Southwest. New Mexico currently produces a maximum of 300,000 seedlings a year – far below the 150 million to 390 million needed to replant an estimated 1 million to 2.6 million acres across the state.

NMRC is designed to be constructed over four phases on NMSU’s John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center at Mora. The first phase, funded by $38.5 million from state

appropriations and federal funding, includes greenhouse and production facilities as well as the center’s operational core, which will house equipment and systems to support all future phases.

The remaining three phases will require additional funding – about $88 million at current estimates. Plans include building more infrastructure, including additional greenhouses, an administrative building and seed-programming facilities at Highlands University in San Miguel County.

The goal is to have all construction completed by 2030, at which point NMRC will be fully equipped to produce 5 million seedlings per year.

In the meantime, NMRC staff will focus on establishing the center’s research, education and outreach activities. This includes collaborative research between NMSU, UNM and others, as well as seed collection and banking and workforce development with Highlands and EMNRD. Efforts to create a regional reforestation center in New Mexico had been years in the making, but the project gained steam following the state’s historic fire season of 2022. That year, fires damaged more than 859,000 acres, and New Mexico recorded its largest wildfire ever – the Hermits Peak/ Calf Canyon Fire – which scorched 341,471 acres. 

Photo by Marco Aragon courtesy of New Mexico State University

Officials participate in a ground-breaking ceremony to mark to start of construction for the New Mexico Reforestation Center in Mora County, New Mexico.

Page 8 • July 12, 2026 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • Four Corners States Supplement • Construction Equipment Guide

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