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“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded 1957.” July 11, 2012 • Vol. XXV • No. 14 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215-885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215-885-2910 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com
Inside
Congress Emphatically Passes Highway Jobs Bill By Alan Fram and Joan Lowy ASSOCIATED PRESS
Carolina CAT, SITECH Hold Demo Event… 8
WASHINGTON (AP) Congress emphatically approved legislation June 29 preserving jobs on transportation projects from coast to coast and avoiding interest rate increases on new loans to millions of college students, giving law-
makers campaign-season bragging rights on what may be their biggest economic achievement before the November elections. The bill sent for President Barack Obama’s signature enables just over $100 billion to be spent on highway, mass transit and other transportation programs over the next two years, projects that would have expired June 30 with-
out congressional action. It also ends a bareknuckle political battle over student loans that raged since spring, a proxy fight over which party was best helping voters muddle through the economic downturn. The bill consolidates various transportation programs and reduces the number of programs
Machines to Nibble Away Under London By Mary Reed CEG CORRESPONDENT
Blanchard Sells to S.C.’s Forestry Commission…14
A great deal of earthmoving equipment also is busy at the project site, some shown here digging a retention pond.
25,000th Kobelco Excavator Rolls Off Assembly Line…22
South Florida Airport Runway Under Way
Table of Contents ........4
By Eric Olson
Paving Section ......30-43
After more than 18 years of planning and debate, work finally began in late January on a new, 8,000-ft.-long (2,438 m) runway at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida. The huge $791 million South Runway Expansion Project should be completed and ready for landings and takeoffs in September 2014, according to airport officials. Runway 9R-27L, located on the south side of the airport and running parallel to Griffin Road, is now being rehabilitated and lengthened. In its old configuration, the runway was only 5,276 ft. (1,608 m) long and was deemed unsuitable for the increasing amount of air traffic coming into the airport. It was closed on April 17 and construction of the new landing surface is going on top of it.
Attachments Section...... ..............................45-61 Auction Section ......80-91
Business Calendar ......84 Advertisers Index ......90
see BILL page 64
Why will Mary and Sophia cross under the River Thames? It’s nothing to do with the old joke about chickens crossing the road, but rather the names of a pair of tunnel boring machines (TBMs) that will help create a new $25 billion (£16 billion) Underground line in London, England. The massive project is proceeding under the aegis of Crossrail Ltd. The largest construction project in Europe at this time, the line will run 73 mi. (118 km) from
Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood at its most eastern point. In the process the line will pass through 57 stations, seven of them new and including two at major railway stations, Paddington and Liverpool Street. Completion will result in 1.5 million travelers being added to those within 45 minutes’ journey of central London. Opening in 2018, it is projected the line will serve 200 million passengers each year, with about 1,500 riders on each train during peak travel periods. see TUNNELS page 70
CEG CORRESPONDENT
see RUNWAY page 26
London’s Mayor Boris Johnson famously described the TBMs as voraciously nibbling away beneath London, and nibbling for the eastern tunnels will commence in late June or early July this year when assembly of Victoria, the first TBM to be delivered, will begin.