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® October 14 2009 Vol. XLVIII • No. 21
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Inside
Constructing Healthy Look at Health Care
Construction crews pour concrete for an abutment that will support the Route 202 parkway bridge over Route 309.
By Giles Lambertson CEG CORRESPONDENT
Philly Lifted to New Parking Heights…8
Atlantic City Welcomes UTCA Members…12
Words Into Action: Route 202 Parkway Finally Advances By Mary Reed CEG CORRESPONDENT
HCEA Holds 24th Annual Convention…18
Table of Contents ............4 Truck & Trailer Section .... ..................................58-63 Crushing, Screening & Recycling Section ....67-88 Parts Section ................89 Business Calendar ......111 Auction Section ..110-128 Advertisers Index........126
projects and this particular job was among those re-evaluated. As a result, a parkway was ultimately chosen as an appropriate solution for improving travel conditions in the area while remaining within the limitations imposed by available funds.
After many years of discussion, an ambitious project to ease congestion in Pennsylvania’s densely populated Bucks and Montgomery counsee PARKWAY page 30 ties is finally under way with construction of a long-awaited parkway. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has estimated that by 2020 the new highway will be traveled by between 23,700 and 28,300 vehicles daily Gov. Martin O’Malley announced that additional transportation Certain changes, however, projects worth $30 million will be funded by President Barack had to be made before ground Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). could be broken for the project. Funding for these additional projects is available due to savings According to PennDOT, the generated by the intense competition for Maryland’s ARRA highparkway had initially been way and transit contracts advertised earlier this year. planned as an expressway with “Without a doubt, President Obama’s recovery program is genlimited access. However, in erating the desired effect here in Maryland,” said O’Malley. March 2004, the department “Across our state, work is under way rehabilitating our roads, bridges and transit systems. Healthy competition for those state realized its projected revenues would not provide enough see FUNDS page 116 funding for all its proposed
Additional $30M in Funds En Route to Md.
Health care reform in the United States has been beaten nearly to death this year by advocates and critics alike. Yet as the debate moves into October, the final shape of “reform” remains elusive and elastic with construction industry executives anxious about its impact on their companies. Any change in the system definitely will have impact on contractors and a sweeping change could upend smaller firms — and most construction companies are small-tomedium-sized. The truth of the matter is the reform model in which government would provide most health care services would dramatically change the way every business operates, large or small. It is impractical to hope that health care reform will be tailored to the construction industry. Nevertheless, small businesses consistently favor certain reform initiatives over others. Were Washington to institute reform along the lines general contractors might lay down, the following features would be among the legislated changes: • New authority for associations to negotiate insurance packages for their members. Besides gaining clout in negotiating benefits, association insurance negotiators could win lower premiums, if given the opportunity. Associated Builders and Contractors noted that private insurance carriers must mark up premiums as much as 35 percent when dealing with small groups in order to meet profit targets and offset overhead. Whereas associations can provide the same administrative services for their members at a cost of 15 percent or less — if, that is, members are allowed to buy insurance through small business health plan pools. see REFORM page 22