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Published Nationally ®
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August 13 2011 Vol. VII • No. 17
“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 Spending Up During June
OCT Equipment Hosts Triple Threat Rodeo...6
An artist’s impression of the courtyard building at Masdar City — exterior view. Atlas Copco Names Product Specialist...13
Renewable, Sustainable Energy a Focus in New Low Carbon City By Mary Reed CEG CORRESPONDENT
WC A Holds Sale in Perris, Calif. ...40
Table of Contents ................4 Truck & Trailer Section18-20 Attachment Section ....21-23 Crushing, Screening & Recycling Section ........27-33 Business Calendar ............34 Auction Section ..........38-47 Advertisers Index ..............46
Masdar City is a “green” urbanization under construction near Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A multi-billion dollar project, the
focus is developing and utilizing renewable and sustainable energy. While the UAE sits on 8 percent of the world’s known oil reserves and is among the globe’s largest oil exporters, it also ranks high on the international see CITY page 8
ARTBA Backs ‘Infrastructure Bank’ Federal financial instruments and initiatives like a proposed national “Infrastructure Bank” designed to attract private investment into transportation infrastructure projects should be included in the new highway/transit bill, Pete Ruane, president of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), told the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee July 20. He cautioned lawmakers, however, not to think that such initiatives alone could solve the transportation funding problem caused by the constrained revenue stream into the Highway Trust Fund.
Ruane said private investors would likely not seek to be partners in the vast majority of transportation improvement projects needed in the states. Market experience, he said, shows publicprivate partnerships (P3s) generally serve a small, yet very important, niche — very expensive projects that add highway capacity in congested urban areas and can be tolled to provide a return on private investment. Addressing the nearly two-year delayed surface transportation bill, Ruane said the biggest obstacle see BANK page 34
Construction spending edged up 0.2 percent in June as increases in private nonresidential construction outweighed continuing declines in private residential and public construction spending, the Associated General Contractors of America reported in an analysis of new Census Bureau data. The construction trade association’s chief economist, Ken Simonson, predicted further imbalances in spending, with further cuts in public spending likely to offset most or all of the gains in private investment. “Private nonresidential construction is rebounding, thanks to renewed investments in power, manufacturing, and warehousing and distribution facilities,” Simonson said. Simonson noted that private nonresidential construction jumped 1.8 percent from May to June and that nine of the 11 categories that the Census Bureau breaks out recorded gains for the month. The largest monthly increases were in manufacturing and power construction, both up 4.0 percent; commercial (retail, warehouse and farm) construction, up 3.1 percent; and health care construction, up 2.3 percent. Simonson remarked that public construction spending dropped 0.7 percent in June, bringing the total decline since March 2009 to 14.3 percent. The two largest public categories have fallen by double-digit rates over the past year: highway and street construction fell 1.6 percent in June and 10.4 percent year-over-year, while educational construction dropped 4.1 percent for the month and 13.0 percent compared with June 2010 levels.