Published Nationally ®
Southeast Edition
July 17 2019
$3.00
Vol. XXXII • No. 15
“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
Upgrading Fort Pierce, Fla.’s Kings Highway By Irwin Rapoport CEG CORRESPONDENT
How Boring Machines Are Designed...8
Carolina Cat’s Charlotte Demo Day...12
Ring Power Hosts Cat Operator Challenge...18
Table of Contents ................4 Attachment & Parts Section ......................................30-31
Built in the 1970s, 3.417 mi. of Kings Highway from south of State Road 70 to north of the I-95 overpass are being rebuilt by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), and the road near the city of Fort Pierce (Saint Lucie County) is being expanded to two lanes in each direction with a 30-ft. wide grass median between the north-south lanes. The highway upgrade also includes Type E curb and gutter (22-ft.-wide raised, plus two 4-foot-wide paved inside shoulders), 6.5-ft.-wide outside shoulders that also will serve as buffered bicycle lanes, a 12-ft.-wide shared use path along the west side and a 6-foot-wide sidewalk along the east side. The $45.2 million project, awarded to Halley Engineering Contractors, Inc. (HEC), started on Sept. 17, 2018 and is anticipated to be delivered in autumn 2022. In addition to the road work, HEC crews are relocating Canal No. 40 from north of SR 70/Okeechobee Road to south of Research Center Road and Canal No. 32W from north of Orange Avenue to south of I-95 overpass; realigning Kings Highway at the intersection with Okeechobee Road to improve the existing connection with the turnpike; replacing existing culverts/swales and installing a closed drainage system and retention ponds; installing a new highway lighting system; and upgrading signalization with vehicle detection devices and ITS cameras. “The primary purpose and need of this project is for added capacity along the corridor due to current and future land use changes,” said Bing Wang, P.E., FDOT’s project manager. “The significant growth that this ‘high growth region’ is undergoing, coupled with future expansion plans, have resulted in a severe need for added capacity along this corridor. In addition, various safety improvements are required which will be incorporated into the proposal projects.” Average annual daily traffic on the highway, prior to the work starting, was 8,000 cars and trucks. A Project Development and Environmental study (PD&E) see KINGS page 62
Peak days thus far have seen 30 to 40 construction workers on site.
Truck & Trailer Section ........ ......................................36-39
U.S. Rural Transportation System Needs Repairs
Recycling Section ........43-55
America’s rural transportation system is in need of repairs and modernization to support economic growth in the nation’s Heartland, which is a critical source of energy, food and fiber. With increases in population and growing employment, rural America is heavily reliant on the quality of its transportation system to sustain further growth. This is according
Business Calendar ............72 Auction Section ............74-76 Advertisers Index ..............78
to a new report released May 22 by TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit. The report, Rural Connections: Challenges and Opportunities in America’s Heartland, evaluates the safety and condition of the nation’s rural roads and bridges and finds that the nation’s rural transportation system is in need of immediate improvements to address
deficient roads and bridges, high crash rates and inadequate connectivity and capacity. The report finds that the nation’s rural roads and bridges have significant deficiencies. Fifteen percent of U.S. rural roads are rated in poor condition, while 21 percent are in mediocre condition. Seventeen percent of the see RURAL page 26