Published Nationally
$3.00
ยฎ
Western Edition
July 31 2010 Vol. VI โข No. 16
โThe Nationโs Best Read Construction Newspaperโฆ Founded 1957.โ 470 Maryland Drive โข Ft. Washington, PA 19034 โข 215/885-2900 โข Toll Free 800-523-2200 โข Fax 215/885-2910 โข www.constructionequipmentguide.com
Inside
Coal Trucks Get Smoother Full Impact of Ride in Emery County, Utah Gulf Oil Spill
Still Uncertain
Nielson used two Cat graders to place the Geogrid and granular borrow.
By Giles Lambertson CEG CORRESPONDENT
Ditch Witch Hosts Big Texas Road Show...8
Spanish Creek Bridge Work Off to Good Start...17
By Jennifer Rupp
CEG CORRESPONDENT
Two-Day Sale For Ritchie Bros. in Texas...52
Table of Contents ..............4 Paving Section ............23-29 Backhoes and Attachments Section ........................33-43 Auction Section ..........51-59 Business Calendar............55 Advertisers Index ............58
The majestic mountain views of SR 10 may once again be enjoyed by travelers who no longer have to worry about keeping their eyes glued to the precarious roadway. A new 3-mi. (4.8 km) stretch of SR 10 is now open to car and truck traffic between Emery and Muddy Creek in Emery County, Utah. Nielson Construction of Huntington headed up the $7 million project that resulted in a new alignment
28 ft. (45 km) over from the existing two lanes. โThe roadway was very dilapidated and unsafe for the heavy truck traffic that it receives,โ said Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) Project Manager Daryl Friant. โIt consisted of two 12-foot lanes with one foot shoulders and the pavement was falling apart in many sections.โ This area of SR 10 plays an important economic role to the surrounding counties of Emery and Carbon, which both produce coal,
The blowout of the Deepwater Horizon oil well in April has been a slow-motion disaster for Gulf states, with the agony measured in economic uncertainty as well as in real-and-present environmental injury. Construction contractors are among the residents of states bordering the Gulf of Mexico who are still assimilating what it all means. There is not yet general agreement whether the spill will end up hurting the industry a little, a lot, or not at all. In truth, the immediate impact on builders is mostly positive. Thatโs because manmade and natural disasters always spur clean-up activity, which nearly always means building industry job creation in the short term. After Hurricane Katrina smashed Louisiana and Mississippi in 2005, debris removal and then reconstruction of vast stretches of those states were a tremendous boon to contractors. One of the differences between that catastrophe and this one is that most of the oil spillage is affecting Gulf waters and coastal areas. While some sand bermbuilding and coastal dredging work suddenly has been needed, the bulk of the
see SMOOTH page 44
see SPILL page 10
Growth, Jobs Should Be Billโs Focus, Cat Exec. Says Fostering long-term economic growth and creating American jobs should be the top priorities in the passage of a new, multi-year federal highway and transit investment bill, Caterpillar Inc., Worldwide Product Manager Larry Tate told attendees at a July 14 hearing called by U.S. Department of Transportation to discuss the overdue legislation.
In a panel session โTransportation: Making the Case to the American Public,โ the 2010 American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) chairman said it was time to level with the public about the scope of the transportation challenges facing the nation and how much time and money it will take to address them. He outlined a series of trans-
portation-related โtruthsโ during his remarks. โFirst and foremost, the nationโs future economic growth, which makes possible our quality of life, is heavily dependent on the state of our transportation infrastructure network,โ Tate said. โIf, in the future, we invest in making our network more efficient in moving people โ and particularly goods
โ by adding capacity across all modes, we will be competitive internationally and able to create and sustain American job growth. If we make the wrong choices, we wonโt.โ Another truth, according to Tate, is that by 2050, the American population will grow by an estimated 112 million people, to 420 see BILL page 56