Published Nationally
Southeast Edition
® August 29 2018 Vol. XXXI • No. 18
“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
$3.00
World-Class Aquarium to Boost Gulfport Tourism…8
The SCDOT Carolina Bays Parkway Extension Project is aiming for a late October/early November 2018 completion date after overcoming some delays.
Hurricanes Can’t Thwart Carolina Bays Parkway Ext.
Construction Laser Moves to Larger Ga. Facility…14
Tropical Storm Joaquin (2015) and Hurricanes Matthew (2016) and Irene (2017) delayed the completion date of the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) and Horry County’s $99 million S.C. Hwy. 31 (Carolina Bays Parkway) Extension to S.C./N.C. State Line Project by one year, but the project along the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) will be delivered in late October/early November by Flatiron Construction. The project, taking place in Myrtle Beach (Horry County), is seeing the construction of 4 mi. of new concrete roadway (9-in. uniform concrete over a graded aggregate base course, three lanes in each direction), two sets of twin bridges (60 ft. long), a three lane single-span bridge over S.C. 707 (150 ft. long), a two lane double-span bridge over S.C. 31 (220 ft. long), and a three lane in each direction main 3,600-ft. long bridge over the ICW.
By Irwin Rapoport
CEG CORRESPONDENT
Underground Infrastructure Needs Attention, Too…48
Table of Contents ............4 Paving Section ..........32-45 Underground Utility, Trenchers, Trench Boxes & Utilities Section ....47-53 Parts Section ............54-55 Auction Section ........78-87 Business Calendar ........81 Advertisers Index ..........86
In the Southeast Region, Flatiron purchases and rents equipment from dealerships such as ALL Carolina Crane Rental LLC, which supplied two of the Manitowoc cranes.
see PARKWAY page 70
Construction Employment Reaches 10-Year High Construction employment increased by 19,000 jobs in July and by 303,000 jobs over the past year, reaching a 10-year high, while the industry’s unemployment rate and level hit an all-time low, according to an analysis of new government data by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said it was likely firms would have added even more workers if they could find
qualified candidates to hire. “The construction industry has added workers at nearly three times the rate of the economy as a whole, and the job gains are showing up in both residential and non-residential construction,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “But it is getting ever harder for contractors to find workers despite offering above-average pay and good career
advancement opportunities.” Construction employment totaled 7,242,000 in July, the highest level since May 2008 and a gain of 4.4 percent over the past 12 months. The economist pointed out that the year-over-year growth rate in industry jobs was almost triple the 1.6 percent rise in total nonfarm payroll employment. see JOBS page 55