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470 Maryland Drive • Ft. 21, Washington, PA 19034 215/885-2900 • To ll Washington, Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215/885-2910 • www.ConstructionEquipmentGuide.com November 2012 • Vol. XLIX • No. 24 •• 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. PA 19034 • 215-885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215-885-2910
Inside
N.J. Firm Restores Degraded Shorel ines…8
Kawasaki R edesigns 95Z7…30
Homeland Security Tests Subway Tunnel Plug Morgantown, W.Va. (AP) The technology may still be a few years from installation and deployment, but researchers at West Virginia University are working with a Delaware company and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to fine-tune giant inflatable plugs that could protect subway and vehicle tunnels from future flooding. The Resilient Tunnel Plug has been years in development and testing, but it may be more relevant than ever: Superstorm Sandy sent a record 14 ft. (4.3 m) storm surge into New York Harbor, flooding subway tunnels that move some 5.2 million people a day. There is no telling how well ILC Dover’s
Resilient Tunnel Plug could have helped prevent damage, “but that’s the kind of thing we’re designing these things for,” Homeland Security spokesman John Verrico said as the latest testing got under way in an airplane hangar. Packed like an air bag, the oblong balloon made of Space Age materials flopped out of the wall of a scale-model subway tunnel that WVU engineers developed several years ago, inflating in about two minutes. While contact sensors monitored the pressure, engineers with WVU, ILC and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory visually inspected the edges to see how tightly the tube filled the tunnel.
After Superstorm Sandy
Table of Contents ................4 Paving Section ............59-73 Trailers Section ............77-92
Snow & Ice Section 114-118 Parts Section ..................119 Auction Section ......124-148 Advertisers Index............146
see TUNNEL page 132
Homebuilders Remain Certain East Coast Picks Up Pieces in Six-Year High
Hunya dy Holds S ale in Hel lert own, Pa. …1 26
Business Calendar ..........112
A proper fit is critical to the plug’s success, said John Fortune, project manager for the Department of Homeland Security. “If there’s not a good seal, we’re going to see substantial flooding,” he said. And while there will always be some leakage, the goal is to make it minimal.
Public works crews up and down the shore were using bulldozers, front-end loaders and earthmovers to push tons of sand back onto what was left of the beaches.
In the week preceding Halloween, Superstorm Sandy devastated portions of the Caribbean, the Mid-Atlantic, northeastern United States and Canada, causing at least 200 fatalities and more than an estimated $20 billion in damages. Below are efforts being undertaken by some of the Mid-Atlantic states heavily damaged.
Christie Administration Issues Emergency Order Easing Infrastructure Repair Permit Requirements As a result of the widespread damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection see RECOVERY page 42
By Alex Veiga AP REAL ESTATE WRITER
LOS ANGELES (AP) Confidence among U.S. homebuilders remains at its highest level in six years, reflecting improved optimism over the strengthening housing market this year and a pickup in visits by prospective buyers to builders’ communities. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Oct. 16 rose to 41 this month, up from 40 in September. That’s the highest reading since June 2006, just before the housing bubble burst. Any reading below 50 indicates negative sentiment about the housing market. The index hasn’t been above 50 since April 2006, the peak of the housing boom. The gauge of current sales and builders’ outlook on sales over the next six months remained unchanged from September’s reading. But a measure of traffic by prospective buyers rose 5 points to 35, the highest level since April 2006. The survey is based on responses from 400 builders. It has been trending higher since last October, when the reading stood at 17. The index sank to 8, its lowest point dating back to 1985, in January 2008. Recent housing data continue to point to signs that the housing market is making a sustained comeback. see HOMES page 125