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June 21, 2014 • Vol. IXX • No. 13 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215-885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215-885-2910
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Inside
Two Down, Two to Go on I-90 Reconstruction By Irwin Rapoport CEG CORRESPONDENT
Efficiency Production Hos ts Safety Day...8
Case, CNH Industr ial Aid Sust ainability Effor ts...14
Guest s Atte nd June I. R.A. Y. Sal e... 74
Table of Contents ............4 Truck & Trailer Section ...... ..................................39-47 Recycling Section ....51-63 Business Calendar ........78 Attachment & Parts Section ......................81-85 Auction Section ........90-96 Advertisers Index ..........94
The reconstruction of the last section of Ohio’s I90 in Ashtabula County is being undertaken by Columbus-based Shelly & Sands Inc. (S&S), which just started the second year of a four-year ($70 million) project that will see 7.5 mi. (12 km) of new road built and nine bridges completely rebuilt. The major challenge for this project is managing traffic so that the work can proceed on schedule. Work for the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) began in January 2013 with the construction of a tunnel for bicyclists underneath the I-90 bridge. “In order to start the project, we had to construct a tunnel under the I-
The reconstruction of the last section of Ohio’s I-90 in Ashtabula County is being undertaken by Columbus-based Shelly & Sands Inc. (S&S), which just started the second year of a four-year ($70 million) project that will see 7.5 mi. (12 km) of new road built and nine bridges completely rebuilt.
90 bridge so that we could remove the bridges and fill and construct a roadway over the tunnel.” said S&S Project Manager Dan Kirsch. The above-ground tunnel — 14 ft. (4.2 m) wide and 16 ft. (4.9 m) high, is 400 ft. (122 m) long and is
big enough to allow a train to pass through. “The path is placed along an old railroad bed,” said Kirsch, “so we had to undercut and then construct a 14-inch concrete pad underneath, which took over 1,800 cubic yards of concrete to pore.
Then we constructed halfwalls on the side and placed precast concrete sections to create the dome.” A 300-ton (299 t) crane was used to place the concrete sections of the tunnel. The demolition of the bridge was completed in
10 days. The highway, two lanes on either side, is separated by median and was built as part of the Eisenhower interstate construction program. ODOT requested that S&S use the bidirectional traffic control system to minimize the traffic impact on motorists. This had S&S build a temporary 7.5 mi. (12 km) lane alongside the westbound lanes, which allows motorists to still use four lanes while the eastbound lanes undergo construction. “I like the system to a certain extent,” said Kirsch. “In some cases it’s hard to get to your work — the hardest part is getting your materials to the job site, like the trucks carrying the stones for the underdrains and drainage and then hauling the matesee ASHTABULA page 64
Illinois Tollway Industry Adds 6,000 Jobs, Issues $500M in Unemployment Rate Drops Revenue Bonds The Illinois Tollway sold $500 million in senior revenue bonds — the first of two anticipated new-money bond issues expected to total an estimated $900 million in 2014. The Tollway bonds were priced to produce reoffering yields ranging from 2.94 percent to 3.89 percent and yields to maturity ranging from 3.22 percent to 4.41 percent. The bonds were issued as fixed-rate revenue bonds with serial maturities from January 1, 2026 through January 1, 2039. see TOLLWAY page 66
Construction employers added 6,000 workers to payrolls in May as the industry’s unemployment rate dropped to 8.6 percent, its lowest May level in six years, according to an analysis of new government data by the Associated General Contractors of America. However, association officials cautioned that gains remain spotty and that thousands of highway construction jobs are at risk because of a pending halt in federal transportation funding later this summer. “Even with five straight months of
construction employment gains, the industry remains vulnerable to sudden shifts in demand,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “Should Washington allow federal highway funding to come to a halt as predicted later this summer, the sudden loss of billions of dollars worth of demand would cost many construction workers, as well as workers from other segments of the economy, their jobs.” Construction employment totaled six see JOBS page 66