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May 14, 2014 • Vol. XXVI • No. 10 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215-885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215-885-2910
Inside
Analysis Finds Many Bridges Require Repair
There’s been talk around Shelby about the U.S. 74 bypass for a good 20 years, so Ken Thomas, cooperate safety engineer for E.S. Wagner Company has had plenty of time to consider the safety issues that might go with such a project. But as it turned out, the matters that concerned him were not such big deals, while those he thought were taken care of, were not. Nonetheless, it’s a job Thomas describes as a “kind of dream project.” Phase one of the project got underway in July 2013 with a scheduled finish date of fall 2016. There are five other phases, each about 2.5 to 3 mi. (4 to 4.8 km) long, for a total of about 15 new mi. (24 km) of highway. “The plan is to help with several concerns,” said Jordan-Ashley Baker, spokeswoman of the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
Data from a new government report shows that if all the structurally deficient bridges in the United States were placed end-to-end, it would take you 25 hours driving 60 miles per hour to cross them. That’s like driving the 1,500 mi. between Boston and Miami. And it’s a problem that’s close to home. An analysis of the 2013 National Bridge Inventory database recently released by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) shows cars, trucks and school buses cross the nation’s more than 63,000 structurally compromised bridges 250 million times every day. The most heavily traveled are on the Interstate system. The problem could get a lot worse, the chief economist of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) said, as states across the nation face a slowdown in reimbursements for already approved federal-aid highway projects in August. Without congressional action, Alison Premo Black said there will be no Highway Trust Fund support for any new road, bridge, or public transportation projects in any state during FY 2015, which begins Oct. 1. “Letting the Highway Trust Fund investment dry up would have a devastating impact on bridge repairs,” Black said, noting the
see SHELBY page 46
see BRIDGES page 86
Taylor County Maintains Roadways…8
An early concern was moving earth from the north side and transporting it to the south.
American Crushers & Screens Succeeds in N.C. …12
Shelby U.S. 74 Bypass: From Talk to Reality After 20 Years By Lori Tobias
CEG CORRESPONDENT
Allen Engineering Marks 50 Year Anniversary…32
Table of Contents ............4 Attachments Section ........ ..................................53-67 Parts Section ..................68 Paving Section ..........71-84 Auction Section ........92-97 Business Calendar ........95 Advertisers Index ..........98
Construction Unemployment Rate Declines The unemployment rate in construction dropped to the lowest April level in seven years as contractors added 32,000 workers to payrolls in April, bringing industry employment to 6.0 million, the highest level since June 2009, according to an analysis of new government data by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials
warned that it is essential to revive and expand training opportunities before the industry runs short of workers. “It is heartening that all categories of construction employers added workers, not only in April but over the past 12 months,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “Moreover, contractors have been adding to
workers’ hours as well as hiring more employees,” Construction employment totaled 6.0 million in April, a gain of 189,000 or 3.3 percent from a year earlier, while aggregate hours worked rose even more — 3.8 percent, Simonson noted. Residential building and spesee EMPLOYMENT page 26