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June 27, 2015 • Vol. IX • No. 13 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215/885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215/885-2910
Inside
Houston Begins Long Road to Storm Recovery By Lori Tobias CEG CORRESPONDENT
Hlavinka, JCB Partner Up, Host Celebration...6
Storm Construction: From Foreman to Owner...22
Last month, after Memorial Day weekend, floods left much of Houston underwater, crews went to work cleaning up as soon as they could safely do so. Even so, Gary Readore, chief of staff of the Houston Solid Waste Management Department, expected it would be nearly the end of summer before the city was back to normal. “I would think in about two months everything should be looking pretty good,” Readore said. “Probably before that, but I don’t want to underestimate. I’m hearing reports we may have a pretty rainy summer, which could compound matters, generate more debris or slow us up. We just saw the start of hurricane season. That’s another thing that is always in the back of our minds.” As well it should be. Just weeks after Houston began cleanup efforts, the city posted a new warning of yet another trop-
AGC Calls for Work Zone Safety Big Bertha’s Damage Greater Than Thought Measures Increase see FLOOD page 48
Ritchie Bros. Sets Colo. Records...50
After the first storm dumped 10 to 12 in. over parts of the city, crews waited for the flood waters to abate, then went out on their regular trash pick-up routes.
Table of Contents ................4 By Martha Bellisle
Attachments Section ..15-19 Truck & Trailer Section ........ ......................................30-31 Recycling Section ........35-42 Auctions Section .................. .................................... 45-55 Business Calendar ............51 Advertisers Index ..............54
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE (AP) Seattle Tunnel Partners finished disassembling Bertha, the world’s largest tunnel-boring machine, recently and said the damage the machine sustained when it broke down in December 2013 was more extensive than previously thought, which means they have to revise their schedule for when they will resume drilling. Also May 18, state transportation officials released the findings of two reports on the ground settlement near
the Seattle Tunnel Project. Both said the removal of water near the repair pit that was dug to access Bertha was a factor, but so was natural settlement and the removal of water for other construction projects. Building a 2-mi. (3.2 km) tunnel under Seattle was the project of choice to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which was damaged in a 2001 earthquake. Crews spent much of 2014 digging the 120-ft. (36.5 m) deep access pit to reach the front of the machine so it could be pulled out and repaired. Concerns about ground stability were see BERTHA page 52
Forty-six percent of highway contractors reported that motor vehicles had crashed into their construction work zones during the past year, according to the results of a new highway work zone study conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials urged summer travel motorists to stay alert while driving through work zones, noting that drivers and passengers are more likely than highway workers to be hurt or killed in work zone accidents. “If the thought of saving someone else’s life isn’t enough to get you to slow down, just remember that you and your passengers are more likely to suffer in a highway work zone crash than anyone else,” said Tom Foss, president of Brea, Calif.-based Griffith Company and the chairman of the association’s Highway and Transportation Division. “In most work zones, there just isn’t enough see AGC page 52