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Midwest Edition
March 10 2018 Vol. XX • No. 5
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“The Nation’s Nation’sBest BestRead ReadConstruction Construction Newspaper… Founded Newspaper… Founded 1957.”1957.” 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215-885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com
Inside
Repairing America’s Highway Bridges
Professional Excavating Uses Latest Technology…10
MacAllister Machinery Opens New HQ…12
The Poplar Street Bridge is on ARTBA’s list of structurally deficient bridges.
By Giles Lambertson CEG CORRESPONDENT Lano Equipment Thanks Its Customers…16
Table of Contents.............4 Attachment Section ...................................35-37
America’s highway bridges need repair. Everyone agrees more money needs to be spent on them. So many bridges are “structurally deficient” that every local TV news team gets to pose a nervous-looking reporter on a local bridge and infer that the structure is apt to collapse the next time they drive across it — if it doesn’t implode on camera under the weight of the
reporter. In reality, of course, such collapses are extremely unlikely. Much of the consternation surrounding the nation’s bridges can be explained in the old saw about lies, damned lies, and statistics. That is, there are lots and lots of numbers attesting to the less-thanpristine condition of tens of thousands of highway bridges in the United States, but they do not necessarily add up to impending catastrophe.
“It sounds very severe to a layman,” said Glenn A. Washer, a professional engineer and professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Missouri. Washer is not a layman. Before he became a university faculty member, he worked for 14 years as a researcher at the Federal Highway Administration’s Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Va., where he practiced the science of bridge inspection. He knows bridges. He also is a
member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the organization that periodically issues a report card on the infrastructure of America. The society’s 2017 report gave the nation a C+ for the condition of its bridges. But wait … That means Uncle Sam is a whisker away from a B-. Many a student would kill for such a grade. Furthermore, the very first ASCE report in 1988 also graded highways and bridges with a C+. That see BRIDGES page 70
Recycling Section.....53-61 Trucks & Trailer Section ...................................71-87 Business Calendar..........88 Auction Section ........92-99 Advertisers Index ..........98
Missouri’s 100-Year-Old Capitol to See Renovation JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) Visitors to the Missouri Capitol will have to weave their way through a construction zone as the 100-year-old building undergoes of major renovation. Crews were erecting metal fences March 2 and dumping gravel on the Capitol lawn to serve as a staging area for heavy construction equip-
ment during the project that will last until late 2020. Workers will be erecting scaffolding around the building to repair cracked and crumbling stone on the exterior of the Capitol, from ground level to the top of the dome. Chicago-based Bulley & Andrews Masonry Restoration has been awarded the $28.7 million
contract. An estimated 450,000 people visit the Capitol annually. It will remain open, though the south roadway will be closed and parking will be limited. (This story also can be found on Construction Equipment Guide’s website at www.constructionequipmentguide.com.)