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September 28, 2013 • Vol. IXX • No. 20 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215-885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215-885-2910
Inside
Zilwaukee Bridge Job Uses Innovative Contract By Mary Reed CEG CORRESPONDENT
It’s said the two brothers who founded the small Michigan township of Zilwaukee in the mid 1800s deliberately named it thus in the hope of confusing settlers who, mistaking it for Milwaukee in Wisconsin, would arrive there to work. So it is indeed Zilwaukee with a zee, and work on its bridge forms part of a Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) project under a relatively new contract delivery method used only a few times in the state, and never before on a project this large or complex. The Zilwaukee Bridge is a 8,100 ft. (2,469 m) long post tensioned concrete segmental structure, consisting of 1,592 concrete segments, each with an average weight of 160 tons (145 t). This complex structure was one of the largest post tensioned concrete segmental bridges in the United States at the time of its construction. The overall cost of about $65 million represents $36 million for work on the Zilwaukee Bridge and $29 million in related I-75 road improvements.
Truck Utilities Celebrates 50 Years ...8
“The project is being built using an innovative contracting called Contract Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC),” said Matthew J. Chynoweth, MDOT engineer, bridge field services. Rudd Showcases Volvo at Open House...77
ConExpo Retro See page 24 for an ongoing series of highlights from past ConExpos as they were reported in the pages of CEG.
Table of Contents ..................4 Off-Road Truck Section..43-51 Snow & Ice Section ........57-63 Parts Section........................66 Paving Section................77-89 Business Calendar ..............90 Auction Section............94-105 Advertisers Index ..............106
The Zilwaukee Bridge is a 8,100 ft. (2,469 m) long post tensioned concrete segmental structure, consisting of 1,592 concrete segments, each with an average weight of 160 tons (145 t).
see BRIDGE page 98
New Rules to Force ASA Supports Court Decision Increased Employer Denying Transfer of Case Spending Up to $6B A federal appeals court was correct in its decision not to dismiss or transfer a case from its Texas venue — where a construction project and all of its subcontractors were located — to a far off jurisdiction in Virginia where the general contractor specified in its subcontract that any dispute resolution must take place, the American Subcontractors Association told the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, ASA said in its amicus brief filed on Aug. 23 in support of the subcontractor in Atlantic Marine Constr. Co. v. J-Crew Management Inc., should affirm the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. “Forum selection clauses in construction contracts are unenforceable under the laws of both Texas and Virginia when the
clause requires litigation to proceed in a forum outside the state where the project was located,” ASA wrote. In the construction industry, out-ofstate general contractors commonly require their subcontractors to sign forum-selection and choice of law clauses, arguing that it’s more convenient and less expensive for them to resolve disputes in a jurisdiction of their choice. “Subcontractors are often left with the choice of accepting boilerplate terms in a subcontract form provided by the general contractor or losing the subcontract to a local competitor,” ASA told the Supreme Court. “In the best of times this is little of a choice. And in difficult economic times, there is really no choice at all for a company needing work to stay alive.” see ASA page 99
The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement in response to the administration’s decisions to finalize two new employment rules despite federal data indicating no need for the new measures: “The administration’s decision to finalize two new oppressive employment regulations for federal contractors forces us to object to measures whose goals we support and objectives our members already meet. That is because these rules will force federal contractors to spend an estimated $6 billion a year to produce reams of new paperwork proving they are doing what the federal government already knows they are doing. “Administration officials claim these rules are necessary to address higher rates of unemployment among veterans and the disabled. Yet federal employment data shows that the annual average unemployment rate was see RULES page 100