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February 18, 2015 • Vol. XXVII • No. 4 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215-885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215-885-2910
Inside
Crews Work to Extend Carolina Bays Parkway
Whitehead & Johns Inc. Serves Fort Myers…8
SCDOT photo SCDOT photo
The total project, including preliminary engineering, right-of-way acquisition and construction is estimated to cost approximately $200 million.
Estimated time frames to finish some of the major items include the completion of the ICWW Bridge by the end of 2016.
Despite a lengthy delay, crews in Horry County, S.C., are making steady progress extending Carolina Bays Parkway (SC 31) from SC 544 to SC 707, just north of Moss Creek Road. A distance of roughly 4 mi. (6.4 km), the project is a new location, multi-lane freeway facility with a grassed median that will include a bridge over the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and interchanges at SC 544 and SC 707. The bridge is a high-level, fixed span bridge 3,632.5 ft. (1,107.2 m) in length, with a navigational clearance of 65 ft. (19.8 m). “The original project was developed by a local grass roots committee and extended from North Carolina to the Highway 17 bypass south of Highway 544,” said Steve Gosnell, Horry County assistant county administrator. “Due to the cost of the project,
By Cindy Riley
CEG CORRESPONDENT Industry Professionals Attend 2015 NPE…36
see PARKWAY page 86
Alex Lyon & Son Kicks Off Annual Florida Auctions…98
Table of Contents ................4 Paving Section ............36-47 Excavator Section.................. ......................................49-79 Business Calendar ............83 Auction Section ........91-103 Advertisers Index............102
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) North Carolina will face serious problems such as increased joblessness, more highway deaths and further congestion if politicians don’t develop a strategy for funding transportation needs, business leaders said as the General Assembly met for the first day of a new session. “North Carolina, in our opinion, is at a crisis point,’’ said Lew Ebert, president and chief executive officer of the N.C. Chamber. The crisis will deepen in July when the state must refigure the gas tax, which will drop because of the decrease in the price of oil, he said. The gas tax provides about 70 percent of the Transportation Department’s budget. The state faces a funding gap of $65 billion to pay for transportation needs and has no strategy to cover that difference, he said at a news conference. “This is probably the most studied issue in recent North Carolina history,’’ he said. “The only thing that’s happened since all the studies have been written is the needs have become more urgent. And like most big problems, they don’t get better with time.’’
By Martha Waggoner ASSOCIATED PRESS
Construction Costs Fall in January, IHS, PEG Report Construction costs fell in January, bringing a halt to three years of rising prices, according to IHS and the Procurement Executives Group (PEG). The headline current IHS PEG Engineering and Construction Cost Index (ECCI) dropped to 48.8 percent in January, down from 52.7 percent in December, the lowest level since January 2012. The current materials/equipment price index registered 47.2 percent in January, the softest reading on record, and down from 50.2 percent in December. Nine of
N.C. Faces Funding Gap of $65B for Transportation
the 12 individual components registered falling prices in January, led by copperbased wire and cable, carbon steel pipe and freight rates. January’s plunge into negative territory was a particularly notable reversal for fabricated structural steel and alloy steel pipe — both of which had seen rising prices over all of 2014. Of the remaining subcomponents, only ready-mix concrete, turbines and pumps and compressors tallied rising prices. “After three years of rising prices, North American construction costs see COSTS page 30
see FUNDING page 82