Published Nationally
Southeast Edition
® February 28 2018 Vol. XXXI • No. 5
“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
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Express Lanes Along I-77 Corridor to Open in Fall By Eric Olson CEG CORRESPONDENT
Northern Florida Company Thrives…8
AED Holds Its Annual Summit, CONDEX…18
Florida Coast Equipment Celebrates Opening…24
Table of Contents.............4 Trucks & Trailer Section ...................................31-34 Attachment Section ...................................35-39 Recycling Section.....51-63 Business Calendar..........64 Auction Section ........81-92 Advertisers Index ..........94
Since November 2015, commuters moving up and down the Interstate 77 corridor from uptown Charlotte north to the suburban community of Mooresville have resigned themselves to slogging through heavy traffic every morning and evening. The north-south route has seen a tremendous amount of adjacent development in the last 25 years as the Lake Norman communities of Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson and Mooresville have all become very popular places to live. Their growth has been part of the overall population increase of the Charlotte Metro area to around 2.5 million people. As a direct result of that growth, it became apparent over the last few decades that I-77 needed more than just its current four lanes of capacity between Mooresville to Charlotte. Right now, I-77 is made up of two lanes in each direction from Mooresville across Lake Norman, through Cornelius and into the southern part of Huntersville. From there south, three lanes of traffic on each side stretch to the interSince November 2015, commuters moving up and down the Interstate 77 corridor from state’s intersection with I-85. High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes have uptown Charlotte north to the suburban community of Mooresville have resigned thembeen in use just north of Charlotte in each direc- selves to slogging through heavy traffic every morning and evening. tion for the last 13 years. In more recent times, though, as the number of cars and trucks through the area has increased, even those lanes were not enough to adequately handle the flow. What was needed through the MooresvilleCharlotte corridor was at least one or two new inside lanes to move traffic moving efficiently. Express Lanes to Improve Travel Time So, after years of planning and public comment, the state of North Carolina and the city of Charlotte finally reached the conclusion that building new express toll lanes in the medians between the north- and south-bound lanes of the interstate corridor was the right solution. Together, the city and the state Department of Transportation (NCDOT) envisioned an enterprise that would add the new lanes along a 26mi. section of I-77. The $648 million I-77 Express Lanes project is promising to provide more reliable travel see INTERSTATE page 44
Google Breaks Ground on $600M Tennessee Data Center
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Google has broken ground on a $600 million data center in Tennessee that will bring 70 to 100 high-tech jobs. Google officials on Feb. 16 announced new and expanding data centers and offices in 14 states, including the Clarksville, Tenn., center. Sen. Bob Corker’s office said the facility will be Google’s eighth United States data center and the 15th worldwide. According to The Leaf-Chronicle, the new facility is expected to create 1,000 construction jobs and will likely go online in the first half of 2019. The Tennessee center is part of a $2.5 billion investment that includes new and expanding data centers in Alabama, Oregon, Virginia and Oklahoma. Google also is investing in new or expanded offices in California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington. (This story also can be found on Construction Equipment Guide’s website at www.constructionequipmentguide.com.)