Published Nationally
$3.00
®
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded 1957.” 4
Inside
Midwest Edition
www.constructionequipmentguide.com
August 12, 2017 • Vol. XX • No. 16 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215-885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215-885-2910
MoDOT Project to Improve Traffic in St. Louis By Irwin Rapoport CEG CORRESPONDENT
Ozinga Continues Tradition of Success…12
Attendees Have a Blast at LICA Expo…16
Ohio Contractor Reconstructs Airport…20
Table of Contents ............4 Backhoes & Attachments Section ......................53-65 Paving Section ..........75-88 Business Calendar ........91 Auction Section ........93-97 Advertisers Index ..........98
KCI Construction Co. crews are fully engaged in the Missouri Department of Transportation’s (MoDOT) ongoing $80 million Congressman William “Bill” Clay Sr. bridge, commonly known as the Poplar Street Bridge, project. The project involves renovating and upgrading a major transportation hub in downtown St. Louis to improve the flow of traffic. The project is being funded by the Missouri and Illinois departments of transportation. The work started in 2015 and will be completed in the late fall of 2018. “One of the primary goals of the project is to improve safety on the bridge by reducing congestion,” said Michelle Voegele, MoDOT’s area engineer of St. Louis City. “Before the project began, traffic heading between St. Louis City and Illinois could back up for several hours. Since the roadway was exceptionally congested, we saw increased levels of rear-end crashes along the bridge as drivers approached the congestion.” The bridge renovation, new driving surface and ramp improvements should extend the bridge’s usable lifespan for about another
KCI Construction Co. crews are fully engaged in the Missouri Department of Transportation’s (MoDOT) ongoing $80 million Congressman William “Bill” Clay Sr. bridge, commonly known as the Poplar Street Bridge project.
50 years. The need for this work was recognized in the early 1990s by regional leaders, and in 1992, MoDOT and the Illinois Department of Transportation carried out an environmental study to find solutions. The study clearly identified the Poplar Street Bridge (PSB) as a central part of the solution and revamp.
“The PSB was one of only two bridges in the nation that carry three interstates [I-70, I-55, I-64] across a river,” according to the web page for the project. “The PSB was built in the 1960s and was never meant to carry the amount of traffic it does today. It was designed to 1960 standards and for today’s traffic, the ramp radii are too sharp, and there is not enough
room between the exits and entrances thus causing major weaving issues. “This is the reason the accident rate at this location is three times greater than a normal interchange and why trucks periodically overturn on the ramps. The study recommended building a new river bridge to the north and making subsee MODOT page 52
Bridge Report: Ten Years After I-35W Collapse Aug. 1 marked the 10th anniversary of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. The bridge was classified as “structurally deficient” and was undergoing repair at the time. The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) has looked at federal government data to see what progress has been made in repairing the nation’s
bridges in the decade since the collapse. States have devoted significant resources to bridge work, ARTBA said. The value of bridge construction increased 39 percent, from $23.2 billion in 2007 to $32.3 billion in 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. During the same time period, highway and street construction activity increased just 8 percent,
from $54.6 billion to $59.2 billion. Despite the ramp up in investment, it has not been enough to keep up with the nation’s bridge needs. In 2016, there were 55,710 structurally compromised bridges, a 24.5 percent reduction compared to the 73,817 back in 2007, see BRIDGE page 94