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December 20, 2014 • Vol. IXX • No. 26 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215-885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215-885-2910
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Inside
Crews Wrap Up Phase One of Alum Creek Job By Lori Tobias CEG CORRESPONDENT
Olson Orders First Ever Pink Trench Box...12
Right on schedule, workers are putting the final touches on a Columbus, Ohio, project that sat on a shelf untouched for 10 years. The Alum Creek Drive
ities, multi-use trails for pedestrians and bicyclists, Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant curb ramps, improved mast-arm signals, street lighting and landscaping. The project was long overdue, said Jim Miller, area engineer of the city of
The Alum Creek Drive improvement project started in 2012 and involved expanding the two-lane highway between Williams Road and State Route 104 to five lanes, as well as adding curbs, a storm system, gutters, drainage facilities, multi-use trails for pedestrians and bicyclists, Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant curb ramps, improved mast-arm signals, street lighting and landscaping. Ziegler CAT Attr acts Bidders to Minn. Sale...96
More Th an 2,85 0 Attend Rit chie Sa le. ..98
Table of Contents ................4 Mini & Compact Equipment Section ..........................46-69 Snow & Ice Section ......70-72 Paving Section ..............79-87 Auction Section..........92-101 Business Calendar ............93 Advertisers Index ............102
improvement project started in 2012 and involved expanding the two-lane highway between Williams Road and State Route 104 to five lanes, as well as adding curbs, a storm system, gutters, drainage facil-
Columbus. “That roadway not only had a lot of daily traffic, but lots of commercial traffic,” he said. “Lots and lots of shipping and trucks. Just major equipment up and down that road every day.
The current ADT is about 30,000 cars a day, and 60 percent of those are commercial vehicles. Mostly semis.” The $18 million project was designed 12 years ago, but sat unfunded until 2012
when money became available from the Federal Transportation Fund. Local contractor George J. Igel & Co., Inc. won the bid. The project came with plenty of challenges, not
the least of which was maintaining traffic during construction. Local neighborhood traffic had to be accommodated and utilities moved. “The schedule, even see ALUM page 78
Industry Spending Has Far-Reaching Benefits Two-thirds of the economic benefits and jobs created by federal highway and transit investment occur in non-construction sectors, according to a new analysis from IHS Inc., a leading global source of
critical information and insight. The study also finds that every dollar invested through the federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF) in state highway, bridge and public transit infrastructure programs returns 74
cents in tax revenue. The report, “Transportation Infrastructure Investment: Macroeconomic and Industry Contribution of Federal Highway and Mass Transit Program,”
reveals that 70 percent of the economic benefits, or value-added, of federal HTF investments in transportation improvements occur in non-construction sectors of the see IHS page 100
Government to Deliver Early Holiday Present? The U.S. House of Representatives passed late Wednesday, Dec. 3, the Tax Increase Prevention Act. Among the 50 expired tax breaks the bill would extend is a reinstatement of the 50 percent depreciation bonus for 2014 and an increase of the Section 179 expensing levels this year to $500,000 with a $2 million
phase-out cap. Both of these tax breaks expired Dec. 31, 2013. At press time, the Senate was expected to take up and pass the bill some time by Dec. 21, which would then go to the president to sign. In addition to affecting equipment purchases made in 2014 retroactively, this bill would in effect create a
window for last-minute purchases made prior to Dec. 31, 2014, to be included. Visit www.constructionequipmentguide.com for continuing updates on this measure. (This story also can be found on Construction Equipment Guide’s Web site at www.constructionequipmentguide.com.) CEG