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October 25, 2014 • Vol. IXX • No. 22 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215-885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215-885-2910
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Inside
Demo Work Leads to Eastbound Voinovich Span By Irwin Rapoport CEG CORRESPONDENT
Grimmer Leads Franciscan Hospital Project…8
MRWA Holds Operator Equipment Expo…12
Topcon Reaches Out in Ever Changing Job Market…20
Table of Contents ................4 Crawler Loaders, Dozers, Undercarriages & Parts Section ..........................39-47 Snow & Ice Section ......55-63 Paving Section ..............79-89 Business Calendar ............90 Auction Section..........94-103 Advertisers Index ............102
The demolition of the 5,078 ft. (157.8 m) long eight-lane Innerbelt Bridge (built in 1959, traffic both directions) in Cleveland, Ohio, began in early January and is expected to be completed soon. A three-year construction project will then be set in motion to build the eastbound (five-lane) side of the George V. Voinovich Bridge (GVV) that is being undertaken by Trumbull-Great LakesRuhlin (TGR) — a Joint-Venture — for the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). Construction on the viaduct began on July 21 and work on the west approach started last spring. The new westbound bridge, which is currently handling traffic in both directions, was renamed at its opening in 2013 to honor George V. Voinovich, a former mayor of Cleveland, governor of Ohio and a United States Senator from 19992011. The $273 million eastbound bridge, under design by URS Corporation, is intended to be a sister bridge to the westbound bridge, a $293 million project that was built by Walsh Construction. Both
The demolition of the 5,078 ft. (157.8 m) long eight-lane Innerbelt Bridge (built in 1959, traffic both directions) in Cleveland, Ohio, began in early January and is expected to be completed soon.
projects were let as design-build projects. “When both are completed they will look the same, but ODOT allowed some changes to the structural system provided the basic shape of the delta girder superstructure and the piers was maintained,” said Steve Stroh, URS’s chief bridge see BRIDGE page 50
Construction Employers Add 16,000 Jobs in September Construction employers added 16,000 jobs and the sector’s unemployment rate fell to 7 percent, the lowest rate for September in years, according to an analysis released Oct. 3 by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said the construction employ-
ment gains come as more firms report having a hard time finding enough qualified workers to fill available positions, citing the lack of local vocational training programs, especially at the secondary level. “While we are eager to see even more construction employment
gains, there is no denying the fact that the industry has been in recovery mode for much of the past three years,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s chief executive officer. “But the industry won’t be able to keep filling positions if there see JOBS page 30
Clock Ticks Toward Another Highway Trust Fund Crisis With Oct. 1 marking the beginning of fiscal year 2015, the 31-member organization Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) urged Congress to find a way to pay for, and pass, a new long-term surface transportation measure as soon as possible. They cautioned that failure to act would lead to another self-imposed funding crisis that would undermine vital road, highway and transit repairs. “We worked hard to build broad consensus within a deeply-divided Congress for investing in the nation’s aging roads, bridges and transit systems,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America and the Coalition’s co-chair. “Members of Congress can either take advantage of that momentum or add transportation funding back to an already-long list of self-created crises threatening our economic vitality.” see FUND page 98