Published Nationally ®
Southeast Edition
January 15 2020
$3.00
Vol. XXXIII • No. 2
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded 1957.” 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215-885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com
Inside
Yates Construction Prefers GOMACO...8
Long-Awaited Widening of North Carolina’s I-26 Begins
Remembering Kenneth R. Richbourg...25
Earthmoving and clearing work conducted along I-26 eastbound in Buncombe County contribute toward the more than 1 million cu. yds. of excavating undertaken for this project.
By Lori Lovely
After years of planning, environmental studies and even lawsuits, the North Carolina Department of Transportation is relieved to see the start of a widening project on Interstate 26 between Hendersonville and Asheville. “The project has been on the books 15 years, and people have been begging for it even longer,” said NCDOT Communications Officer David Uchiyama. That’s because the volume of traffic is up. “There’s increased capacity,” explained Nathan Moneyham, NCDOT Division 13 assistant construction engineer, who’s overseeing the Buncombe County project. “Western North Carolina is a popular spot.” This 18-mi. section is used daily by locals, is a commercial route to the Port of Charleston and sees visitor traffic from Ohio Valley residents on their way to the beach. “This corridor is regionally important for the eastern part of the U.S.,” stated Mike Patton, NCDOT engineer for Division 14. He describes the heavily traveled corridor as the “route to get to southern beaches.” Anyone traveling to the seaside from Tennessee, Ohio or elsewhere in the Midwest is “coming through here.” That also applies to the 375,000 residents in Buncombe and Henderson counties. Traffic counts in 2017 compiled by the DOT indicate a volume of 84,000 vehicles a day near I-40, slightly fewer in southern Buncombe County (82,000) and substantially less traffic in Henderson County (67,000).
CEG CORRESPONDENT
Overview To accommodate traffic increases, the ambitious and highly anticipated project will widen 16.9 mi. of I-26 from U.S. 64 in Hendersonville to Brevard Road in Asheville. Expanding most of that distance from four to eight lanes will contribute to safer and more efficient travel, while increasing capacity to handle existing volume and accommodate future growth. According to NCDOT, some sections currently operate at “levels of see CAROLINA page 52
New Life for Recycled Pavement...33
Table of Contents .........4 Paving Section ......33-49 Parts Section ..............50
Economists Make 2020 Construction Predictions By Lucy Perry CEG CORRESPONDENT
Business Calendar......72 Auction Profiles Section ................................78-85 Advertisers Index .......86
Construction economists are not sugarcoating their outlook on the industry in 2020. The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation forecasts slower growth in the economy next year, and predicts equipment investment will be weak. The Associated General Contractors and the Association of
Equipment Manufacturers also expect moderate growth in the construction market. Though not the rosiest picture, there are bright spots. In fact, equipment sales are actually on somewhat of an expansion track. Ken Simonson, AGC chief economist, forecasts growth in public, private The healthiest construction segments in 2020 will likenonresidential, and multifamily con- ly include highway and street construction, transstruction. portation facilities and power and energy, believes the see FORECAST page 60
Associated General Contractors of America.