Published Nationally ®
Southeast Edition
January 27 2010
$3.00
Vol. XXIII • 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 • Fax 215/885-2910 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com
Inside
Connecting Arkansas to Future Highway I-69 By Zoie Clift CEG CORRESPONDENT
Manhole Shields Assist Wharton-Smith…8
A large- scale project with a long-range scope is in the works in Arkansas. The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD) is in the midst of constructing a 38.5-mi. (61.9 km) road
designed to connect Interstate 530 in Pine Bluff to U.S. 278 in Wilmar. The connector is being built to provide easy access to the future Interstate 69, which will connect north and south portions of the country via southeast Arkansas. When initially calculated in the mid to late 1990s, the connector road was expected to cost $300 million but that amount has increased to
around $620 million due to overall increased construction costs. According to Glen Bolick, AHTD spokesperson, the highway will be initially built as a two-lane roadway, but right of way has been purchased to accommodate future widening to four-lanes. In 2006 AHTD completed the first segment see AHTD page 59
Homebuilding: Stabilizing the House of Cards By Giles Lambertson
Caterpillar Delivers Keys to First D7E…16
CEG CORRESPONDENT Photo courtesy of Jensen Construction Company
According to Ernie Westfall, AHTD District Two construction engineer, equipment on this section of the project includes American Cranes models 999, 7250, 5299, 5300 and 9260,
Deeres Help Paving Co. Enter Mining Business…31
Table of Contents ........4
Rain Slows, Does Not Stop Progress on Snapfinger Rd. By Angela B. Hurni CEG CORRESPONDENT
Paving Section ......43-54 Parts Section ..............56 Business Calendar......60 Auction Section ....69-77 Advertisers Index ......78
Despite consistent rain, work is ongoing on the Snapfinger Road widening project in DeKalb County, Ga., and has been for almost a year. The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) awarded Pittman Construction Co., Conyers, Ga., the $10.1million contract to widen Snapfinger Road beginning at Flat Shoals Parkway and extending to Wesley Chapel Road. Preliminary work on the 2-mi. (3.2 km) long project began January 2009, and relocation of utilities began in spring of this see SNAPFINGER page 62
When finished, the project will improve the safety and operation of the roadway, which serves as a major route to Interstate 20, especially for the residential developments.
Homebuilding in the United States in the past decade became a gigantic house of cards, which finally collapsed in 2008. Boom went bust and homebuilders still are trying to dig themselves out of the resulting heap. A nationwide search continues for policies and business models that will deal simultaneously with foreclosures, unemployment, tight money and budget deficits. Expert industry observers cannot say exactly when homebuilding will again become a robust economic indicator. But there seems to be a consensus that the situation won’t deteriorate much further. “As far as construction goes, it has not been perfectly increasing, but it has been steadily increasing since the early part of 2009. I see 2010 as being a better year,” said David Crowe, chief economist of the National Association of Homebuilders. The statement is underwhelming because 2009 is a remarkably low benchmark. While new single-family residential construction indeed rose for the sixth consecutive month in November (1.3 percent), overall spending on homes still was 25 percent below November 2008 activity; multi-family residential building for the month was 44 percent below a year ago. General construction spending in November fell 13 percent see HOUSING page 24