Published Nationally
Western Edition
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® September 22 2024 Vol. XXV • No. 19
“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
Goodbye Tropicana Iconic Hotel Being Demolished to Make Way for Baseball Stadium
AUSA Acquisition Complete, Now Part of JLG Industries...6
Tough Seats Touts Heavy Machinery Seating Excellence...39
Volvo Announces Plans to Launch HydrogenPowered Trucks...45
A piece of Las Vegas history is disappearing from the city’s “Just Off the Strip” landscape. The Tropicana Hotel complex, once a hub of Las Vegas betting and nightlife, is being systematically demolished to make way for a stadium that will house the city’s newest professional sports franchise. Heading the effort to level nine structures — including a pair of 22-story towers — on the 34-acre site, Miller Environmental Inc. (MEI, Orange, Calif.) has assembled an armada of equipment, including no fewer than 10 Link-Belt excavators, a host of attachments, support equipment and a crew of more than 100 skilled personnel. Out With the Old As the phrase “Drop the Trop” enters the vernacular, Miller is helping usher in a new era for Las Vegas. By Las Vegas standards, the Tropicana Hotel is ancient. First opened in 1957, it was, at the time, the most expensive Las Vegas resort ever developed, with a price tag of $15 million. Over more than six decades, despite expansions, multiple owners and several rebrandings, the Tropicana failed to keep up with the more popular and elaborate offerings on The Strip. see TROPICANA page 28
Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Aggregate & Recycling Section . . . . . . . . . . . . .33-38 Attachments & Parts Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39-44 Truck & Trailer Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45-47 Auction Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53-59 Business Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Advertisers Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Another Link-Belt excavator removes a chunk of the former Tropicana Hotel complex.
Firms Roll Up Sleeves to Find Workers AGC Finds Contractors Using Multiple Hiring Tools to Grow Workforce Numbers The construction industry is no stranger to hard work. So, when it comes to workforce shortages, instead of throwing up their hands contractors are rolling up their sleeves. Companies have gotten clever in their strategies to overcome workforce issues. Not wasting time pointing fingers at the federal government’s preference for higher education over craft training, the industry instead is opting to develop a culture that invests in workers for the long haul. In its annual workforce survey, the AGC finds its members are carving away at the “significant” impact of federal workforce policies.
By Lucy Perry
Adobe Stock photo
CEG CORRESPONDENT
see WORKERS page 26
AGC members are sharing recruiting ideas, from online outreach to referrals through subcontractors.