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Published Nationally
Midwest Edition
® April 17 2010 Vol. XVII • No. 8
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded 1957.” 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215/885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215/885-2910 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com
Inside
Iowa’s I-35 Rehab: AModel in Resurfacing By Lori Lovely
A John Deere 450 excavator loads the existing road into the crushers’ hopper located at the front of Manatt’s Paradigm crusher.
CEG CORRESPONDENT
Iowa’s Interstate 35 rehabilitation project is the showcase resurfacing project in Warren County, funded by money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. Just a month after the Act was signed by President Obama, the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) let the I-35 rehabilitation project for bid. According to Scott Sommers, Iowa DOT, Chariton resident construction engineer, the overall scope of the project involves total replacement of the existing I-35 pavement from Hwy 34 to the Decatur county line in rural Iowa. Paving the Way Toward a Smoother Ride Interstate 35 stretches from Duluth, Minn., to Laredo, Texas, just short of the Mexican border. Some sections in Oklahoma City were built in 1953 before the interstate system was even created. Other sections opened in 1959, with the final section completed in 1975. Because the original segment of roadway was constructed in
Kawasaki Unveils its ‘For the Cure’ Loader…12
Aggregate Seminar Yields High Interest…28
see SMOOTH page 20
Trenchers Plus Hosts Chili Feed…34
Table of Contents ........4 Paving, Compaction & Milling Section ......50-71 Parts Section ..............73 Business Calendar......75 Auction Section ....87-95 Advertisers Index ......94
Health Care Subsidy Provision Causes Stir By Giles Lambertson CEG CORRESPONDENT
America’s drawn-out and contentious debate about health care did not end with the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law March 23. In some
respects, the national argument has just begun — and construction equipment manufacturers Caterpillar and Deere & Co. suddenly find themselves at the heart of it. Just two days after the bill’s signing into law, President Obama was in Iowa when Deere, Iowa’s largest employer, announced that the
value of its assets dropped by $150 million as a consequence of one of the law’s provisions. Deere said the change would be recorded as a one-time cost in the second quarter; its stock dropped the next day, losing 29 cents per share to $60.20. see PROVISION page 22
Minnesota Bill Could Help Mall of America Expand ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) A tax bill that aims to get construction started at the Mall of America got its first hearing on March 15. The bill from House Taxes Committee Chairwoman Ann Lenczewski includes tax incentives that would reward investors who put their money into growing small businesses and historic building renovations. It would adjust the wording of state law on the Mall of America
expansion, in a move that Democrats said could get a hotel project there started. Union officials estimated the hotel construction could employ 200 to 250 full-time workers. The bill also would establish a tax credit for investments in small hightech companies, manufacturers and eco-friendly businesses and another tax credit for historic renovation projects.