Published Nationally
®
Southeast Edition
February 13 2019
$3.00
Vol. XXXII • No. 4
“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
Utility Relocations Can Cause Costly Delays at Job Sites
By Giles Lambertson
Concrete Industry Gathers in Vegas…22
CEG CORRESPONDENT
Hammer attachments appear from below as the Interstate 55 overpass is demolished.
Tales of Excavators’ Exploits…48
Tight Construction Space Brings Crews Together By Cindy Riley
CEG CORRESPONDENT
Deal Hunters Flock to Jeff Martin Auction…89
Table of Contents ............4 Paving Section ........29-43 Excavators & Attachments Section ......................45-75 Parts Section ................77 Business Calendar ........86 Auction Section ......88-91 Advertisers Index ..........90
Expected to be completed by summer 2019, a project to replace two overpasses along Interstate 55 in northwest Mississippi continues near Coldwater, Tate County. The new bridges at Exit 271 will have a 75to 100-year life expectancy, and for motorists in the area, they arrive not a moment too soon. “The existing bridges were built in 1959, and the bridge decks had deteriorated to a point where replacement was the only solution,” said Melinda L. McGrath, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Transportation. “The structures had sufficiency ratings of 43.4 northbound and 53.7 southbound, on a 100-point scale.” The existing bridges were 162 ft. 4 in. long and approximately 38 ft. 10 in. wide. The new bridges are 104 ft. 1 in. long and 44 ft. 10 in. wide. The $9 million project was awarded to Joe McGee Construction Company, and the work needed to be performed at this time because maintenance costs were increasing. The northbound I-55 bridge over State Route 306 was taken down Dec. 1. Traffic has been rerouted to see OVERPASS page 80
Demolition of the old northbound bridge was completed in 12 hours.
Utility lines in the path of highway construction projects are an old and chronic national problem. Relocating lines so construction can advance almost invariably is a slow-motion process that causes general contractors to grind their teeth and DOT officials shake their heads. But the problem hangs around, decade after decade. For more than a hundred years, utilities of one kind or another have crowded highway rights of way. As utility lines have proliferated above and below ground — water lines, sewer mains, fiber optic cable — so has their presence alongside the country’s aging roads. The Federal Highway Administration estimates more than 90 percent of today’s highways were constructed before 1950, and the need to repair and widen the roadways runs headlong into all the utility infrastructure. Since at least the 1970s, transportation agencies have tried to find a way to resolve the conflict. Entire manuals have been written on how to design, construct, maintain and relocate utilities in public rights of way. In 2004, for example, Indiana’s DOT published a report subtitled, in 72-point type and all capital letters, “Accountability, Communication, Coordination and Cooperation” — as if to say, hey, this is important. Yet some excerpts from the 15-year-old document could have been written yesterday: “Events in the past few years have made it clear that processes for highway improvement projects involving the relocation of utility facilities must change.” And this: “Bottom line, when highway improvement projects involve the relocation of utility facilities, all parties, including the public, deserve timely and cost-effective completion of these projects.” Easier said than done. ‘Hard Scrabble’ Dilemma The struggle to have utilities moved is “a constant, consistent, ever-present issue,” according to Hugh Edwards, a project manager for South Carolina construction firm Palmetto Corp. Edwards’ management expertise comes from a business degree from the University of South Carolina and 20 years of overseeing major infrastructure projects. He see UTILITIES page 76