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September 12 2009 Vol. V • 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 • Fax 215/885-2910 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com
Inside
Construction to Begin on Oil Pipeline
A John Deere 850D LC excavator installs a shoring system 30-ft. (9 m) deep.
By Elizabeth Dunbar
Cashman Opens New Store in North Las Vegas…15
Great American Trucking Show Stops in Dallas…19
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CEG CORRESPONDENT
Table of Contents ..........4 Truck & Trailer ........19-20 Business Calendar ........20 Crushing, Screening & Recycling Section....29-31 Auction Section ......35-42 Advertisers Index ........43
see WSDOT page 24
see PIPELINE page 10
Teamwork Nearly Halves Project Time in Washington By Rebecca Ragain
Ritchie Bros. Hosts Sale in Los Angeles…39
and southern abutment walls are continuous between the two bridge structures, to allow for the future addition of a HOV lane in each direction, if necessary. “All we’ll have to do is bring in box girders and we’ll be good to go,” said Washington State Department of Transportation Project Engineer Brenden Clarke. The decision to move the high-traffic highway instead of the road seemed counterintuitive to the public, according to Clarke, but it made sense from an engineering standpoint because of Burley Olalla Road’s steep grade. “In addition, the soil on the downhill side is very poor and soggy, so it would have been very difficult to have built a structure — the footing would have had to be very deep to overcome the poor soil,” explained Clarke. A structure carrying Burley Olalla Road over SR 16 would have been much longer than the final span of less than 150 ft. (45.7 m). “It was much cheaper to build up dirt on either
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) The U.S. State Department issued a permit Aug. 20 allowing construction of a pipeline that will bring crude oil to the U.S. from Canada’s oil sands, where environmental groups say extraction and refinement methods are contributing to global warming. With the permit in hand, Enbridge Inc. plans to start construction work on the Alberta Clipper pipeline, which will run through Minnesota and the northeastern corner of North Dakota from Superior, Wis., to Hardisty, Alberta. In a statement announcing the permit, the State Department called Canada a “stable and reliable ally” and said increasing capacity for Canadian crude oil to reach the U.S. will “advance a number of strategic interests of the United States.” Environmental groups had urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to reject the permit, saying extracting and refining crude from Canada’s oil sands emits high amounts of greenhouse gases and threatens the water and air. A coalition of environmental and Native American organizations vowed to challenge the permit in court, expressing disappointment with President Barack Obama’s administration. “Both Obama and Hillary Clinton who had to sign off on this permit campaigned on reducing our reliance on oil and moving to a cleaner and greener energy system. This will be a step backward,” said Chuck Laszewski, spokesman for the Minnesota
It used to be that drivers traveling between Tacoma or Gig Harbor and Port Orchard along Washington’s SR 16 had to be especially alert as they approached the community of Burley. The intersection of SR 16 and Burley Olalla Road was this section of highway’s last remaining atgrade intersection, and as such, had a high incidence of severe accidents. So when Tacoma-based contractor Ceccanti Inc. began construction on a grade-separated tight-diamond interchange at SR 16 and Burley Olalla Road, local emergency service workers and the public breathed a collective sigh of relief. Thirteen months later, the $16.3-million contract is 80 to 85 percent complete. Final grading is under way and paving is scheduled for the second week of September. The bulk of the project consisted of building two concrete box girder bridges to carry SR 16 traffic over Burley Olalla Road. The northern