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Western Edition
December 19 2021 Vol. XXII • No. 26
“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
Point of Conflict Allen Butler Construction Corrects Trouble Spot in Lubbock, Texas Texas’ oil and gas industry supports millions of jobs statewide while its thriving windfarm industry employs tens of thousands of Texans. In fact, it’s been reported that if Texas were a country, it would rank number 5 in the world in total wind energy generation. Then there’s the state’s leading cash crop: cotton, a $5.2 billion industry that represents 40 percent of total cotton production in the United States. These three industries have a huge presence throughout the South Plains and Permian Basin areas in western Texas. So much so that traffic safety and mobility issues along heavily trafficked thoroughfares and at busy intersections are being aggressively addressed by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). One example: the U.S. 87/Farm to Market (FM) 41 intersection, where a 3-year construction project began in October. “Over the past few years, as more folks moved into southern Lubbock County and northern Lynn County, both U.S. 87 and FM 41 have seen an increase in traffic and, unfortunately, a rise in crashes at the intersection,” Steve Sisneros, TxDOT’s Brownfield area engineer, said. “The new bridge, a grade separation structure — always an improvement to any intersection — will eliminate the conflict point between the U.S. 87 mainlane traffic and FM 41 traffic. Also, the slower minor road FM 41 traffic will no longer have to travel across the high-speed U.S. 87 mainlanes, eliminating any stop-and-enter traffic and the related queuing issues.” Allen Butler Construction (ABC) Inc., a mid-sized heavy highway civil construction company in Lubbock founded in 1978 and known for its road and bridge infrastructure construction, is serving as the general contractor. ABC equipment being used for the U.S. 87 bridge project includes milling machines, scrapers, motor graders/maintainers, cranes, drill shafts,
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CEG CORRESPONDENT
Allen Butler Construction Inc. crews demo a portion of the existing northbound U.S. 87 mainlane utilizing a John Deere 892 LC hydraulic excavator. The roadway’s frontage roads will be constructed during Phase 1 of the project.
belly-dumps and laydown paving machines. When finished, motorists will benefit from a new bridge that will take them over FM 41 as well as new entrance and exit ramps, turn-arounds and safety lighting, said Sisneros.How the three-phase project is approached has much to do with safety issues, Sisneros said. “The safety of the traveling public and construction crews is always our top priority, so for about eight months during Phase 1 of the project, FM 41 traffic will not have direct access to U.S. 87 and will be detoured see LUBBOCK page 64
Table of Contents ................4
Industry Ready to Dive Into Infrastructure Work
Paving Section..............25-37
As Agencies Assess Priorities, Contractors Prepare for Influx of Infrastructure Projects
Mini & Compact Equipment Section ..........................47-57 Auction Section ............62-65 Business Calendar ............64 Advertisers Index ..............66
By Lucy Perry CEG CORRESPONDENT
The ink is still drying on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) as the construction industry awaits bid-letting and Congress turns to the reconciliation budget bill. After a long, hard-fought battle for funding, the industry is ready to get to work on these broad-spectrum infrastructure projects, which will color
the national construction picture for years to come. “America finally has a generation-defining infrastructure bill — and if the reconciliation budget comes through, too, America will begin a building spree larger than what happened during the New Deal,” observed Brookings Institution. It’s “worth pausing to consider” the enormity see INFRASTRUCTURE page 46
