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September 16, 2015 • Vol. XXVII • No. 19 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215-885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215-885-2910
Inside
States Raise Taxes, Fees to Pay for Road Repairs By David A. Lieb
VDOT Embarks on $31.5M Project…8
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Shawn Hiester photo
A 1,500 sq. ft. (139.3 sq m) bar/restaurant and a single-family residence had to be demolished prior to construction.
Project Makes a Splash Whitfield County Finds Success Patching Potholes…24
Energy Industry Converges on Tulsa, Okla. …49
Table of Contents ................4 Attachment & Parts Section ......................................43-48 Truck & Trailer Section ........ ......................................50-52 Recycling Section ........57-73 Business Calendar ............82 Auction Section..........94-105 Advertisers Index ............106
Dubbed “the newest aquarium in the nation’s oldest city,” the St. Augustine Aquarium will serve as one of Florida’s splashiest tourist attractions once construction is complete. The privately-funded, $8 million dollar project consists of 250,000 gallons of indoor and outdoor marine exhibits, including a snorkel adventure, zip line, shipwreck reef tank, stingray encounter and other smaller exhibits. More than 70 species and 1,000 fish will be housed in the new state-of-the-art facility. “This project is very important to my wife, Kathy, and me because it represents our passion — the underwater world and how to conserve it,” said Shawn Hiester, aquarium owner and founder. “I’m an avid scuba diver and Kathy is a biologist. We used to watch episodes of Seahunt and The Underwater World of Jacques Cousteau as kids. This project is the fulfillment of our life-long dreams to own an aquarium and share it with others.” The project will feature an interactive 80,000-gallon snorkel adventure habitat, which will be a re-creation of the Florida reef environment, including stingrays and hundreds of fish. While some visitors will make use of clear acrylic view windows, others can
By Cindy Riley
CEG CORRESPONDENT
see AUGUSTINE page 36
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) While Congress remains stalled on a long-term plan for funding highways, state lawmakers and governors aren’t waiting around. Nearly one-third of the states have approved measures this year that could collectively raise billions of dollars through higher fuel taxes, vehicle fees and bonds to repair old bridges and roads and relieve traffic congestion, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. The surge of activity means at least half of the states — from coast to coast, in both Republican and Democratic areas — now have passed transportation funding measures since 2013. And the movement may not be done yet. Tennessee’s governor made a 15-city tour highlighting the state’s transportation needs. North Carolina lawmakers are debating a road-bonding proposal. And legislators are returning to work in California and Michigan with transportation funding on the agenda. “I don’t know of a state that’s not having the conversation’’ about raising revenue for transportation, said Iowa Transportation Director Paul Trombino III, who is vice president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and whose home state recently raised fuel taxes by 10 cents a gallon. The widespread focus on transportation funding comes as state officials are becoming frustrated by federal inaction in see REPAIRS page 82
Campaign Aims to Interest Families in Industry By Irwin Rapoport CEG CORRESPONDENT
Launched last spring in Chicago, the “Born to Build” campaign initiated by Chicago’s Ozinga Bros. Inc., plans are already in the works to initiate a second phase of the advertising
campaign. Partnered with creative agency Cultivate Studios, the goal of the campaign is to “honor and celebrate” the American construction worker and those in construction-related trades. Ozinga Bros., a fourth-generation family-owned business founded in 1928 on the south side of
Chicago, a ready mix concrete producer and supplier, is currently run by five brothers and a cousin. The family is covering the cost of the campaign and is pleased with the results. “It’s a significant investment and the message has been received well and is spreading,”
said Tim Ozinga, co-owner and the firm’s marketing communications director, “and we have a lot of people that we are talking to that are interested in participating with us in the next campaign. I was most surprised by the reaction on Facebook. We posted the see CAMPAIGN page 34