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August 1 2021 Vol. XXII • No. 16
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded 1957.” 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215-885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com
Inside
Retired Equipment Operator Turns Artist...8
Demo Days Event Coming to Tulsa, Okla. ...14
ARTBA Hands Out a Pair of Awards in Calif. ...24
Table of Contents ............4 Paving Section ..........29-43
Decades in the Making Fluor Construction, Balfour Beatty Break Ground On $674M Project Near Austin With the turn of shovels, crews from Fluor Construction, Balfour Beatty and officials from the Texas Department of Transportation recently held a ground breaking ceremony to commence construction on the $674 million Oak Hill Parkway project, located in Travis County, Texas, in the area of south Austin. Construction is anticipated to be completed in 2025-26. Decades in the making, the Oak Hill Parkway project will accommodate current and future growth by adding lanes for drivers traveling through Oak Hill, as well as frontage roads for local traffic. The project also will remove traffic signals on the mainlanes and construct flyovers between U.S. 290 and SH 71. Once completed, the highway will serve as a key route to Austin for the residents of Oak Hill, Lakeway, Bee Cave, Dripping Springs and other growing communities west of Austin. “This is a great example of our continued strategic focus on infrastructure projects in Texas,” Terry Towle, the group president of Fluor’s Urban Solutions business, said in a statement. “When completed, widening the corridor will improve mobility, operating
Oak Hill Parkway photo
The Oak Hill Parkway Project will accommodate future growth by adding U.S. 290 travel lanes, removing traffic signals on the mainlanes and constructing flyovers between U.S. 290 and State Highway 71.
efficiency and safety by easing gridlock in the area, enabling emergency vehicles to respond to accidents quickly.” The joint venture will be responsible for the project’s construction that includes: • A 7-mi. design-build project includes see PARKWAY page 52
Oak Hill Parkway photo
The joint venture of Fluor Construction and Balfour Beatty, as well as TxDOT officials, recently broke ground on the Oak Hill Parkway Project, a massive endeavour that has been in the works for more than 30 years.
Focusing On Hazard Communication Standards
By Lucy Perry Backhoes & Attachments Section ......................53-61 CEG CORRESPONDENT
Business Calendar ........66 ond half of 2021 will be on a laundry list of reg-
proposed amendments to the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS). OSHA’s goal is to conform to changes in the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS).
ulations that could directly impact contractors in the construction industry. Feeling the effects of a federal agenda that includes 26 OSHA regulations, the business of construction may look a lot different by next year. Packing the biggest punch for contractors are
Potential Business Challenges OSHA also seeks to align certain hazard communication provisions with Canada and other U.S. agencies, and address issues that have developed since implementation of the 2012
The Department of Labor’s focus for the sec-
Auction Section ........68-73 Advertisers Index ..........74
standard, according to David Sparkman, logistics consultant, Washington, D.C. The standard applies to all employers that ship, store or handle hazardous materials, but construction employers may face new burdens, cautioned Sparkman. Contractors “may have new compliance obligations from some materials now being classified as ‘hazardous’ or managed in a different hazard class, resulting in new program, training see OSHA page 72
