Published Nationally ®
Southeast Edition
February 24 2010
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Vol. XXIII • No.4
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Inside
Money Woes Threaten High-Speed Rail’s Future By Michael Tarm ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Project Restores Water Flow in Everglades…21
CHICAGO (AP) The $8 billion in stimulus cash awarded to 13 high-speed rail corridors across the United States may seem like a windfall for advocates, but there’s a catch: The money isn’t enough to finish any of the major
projects. State coffers are dry and federal spending is being cut back, so it’s unclear who, if anyone, will pay the rest of the multi-billion dollar bill. Many states have been vague about how they would pay their part of the bill. But experts say most are counting on the federal government to cover at least half of their costs
over the next few decades — a hope that may clash with President Barack Obama’s recent pledge to curb spending. Optimists point to the 2011 federal budget Obama proposed that seeks $1 billion more for high-speed trains on top of the $8 billion he already announced in stimulus money. There’s see RAIL page 84
Industry Responds to Haiti’s Needs Work Begins on N.C.’s First Toll Road…25
To minimize the impact on traffic on the I-575 project, work on the $18.5 million project, which was contracted to Marietta, Ga., based C.W. Matthews Contracting Co., took place exclusively at night.
Alex Lyon & Son Kicks Off Florida Auctions…88
Table of Contents........ 4 Paving Section .... 33-48 Excavators & Attachments Section ..............................53-76 Parts Section ..............77 Business Calendar......86 Auction Section ......87-99
Advertisers Index ......98
Cat corporate executives also are working through a dealer in Haiti called Haytrac in the deployment of equipment and operators to the stricken area.
By Giles Lambertson CEG CORRESPONDENT
General contractors and equipment dealers in the United States have limited options right now in responding to Haiti’s destructive earthquake. Contributing funds to recovery efforts is the big-ticket response at this point. Shortly, however, the companies’skilled personnel and equipment will be in greater demand. The 7.0-magnitude quake that struck Haiti just before dusk on Jan. 12 collapsed thousands of concrete-block homes and larger buildings. The next morning’s light revealed wholesale destruction and loss of life in the nation’s capital, Port-Au-Prince. Deaths are estimated at somewhere between 75,000 and 200,000, with another 200,000 injured. Because Haiti generally is considered the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, recovery is expected to be slow amid enormous human suffering. see HAITI page 12
ARRA Funded Projects in the Works in Northwest Ga. By Zoie Clift CEG CORRESPONDENT
Northwest Georgia is currently home territory to ten American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funded highway projects. Work on all the projects began during the summer of 2009 and cumulatively they are valued at more than $48 million. The scope of the projects range from adding turn lanes on U.S. 41 in Bartow County to replacing a bridge on County Line Road over Polecat Creek. Construction work is finished on the first project: the resurfacing of I-575,
which included more than 20 mi. (32 km) of resurfacing on the interstate, beginning at I-75 in Cobb County and extending to the Etowah River in Cherokee County. I- 575 is 31 miles long and connects the Atlanta area with the north Georgia mountains. “A major objective of the project’s construction plan was to minimize the impact construction work would have on the heavy traffic the interstate carries during the day,” said Mohamed Arafa, GDOT Communications Officer in Northwest Georgia. “As a result, work on the $18.5 million project, which was see ARRA page 32