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September 24 2011 Vol. VII • No. 20
“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
Congress Punts on Road Bill By Pete Sigmund CEG EDITORIAL CONSULTANT
SANY Partners With Four Seasons Equipment...14
Pioneer Equipment Rent al Net s Award...36
An artist’s rendering of a portion of the I-10 project near Tucson, Ariz., that will feature the widening from two lanes to three lanes eastbound and westbound, and reconstruction of interchange ramps and bridges at the Sunshine Boulevard, Toltec Road and Sunland Gin Road exits/interchanges.
I-10 in Tucson Receives $1.5M Enhancement Grant By Jennifer Rupp CEG CORRESPONDENT
Alex Lyon & Son Holds Sale in Houston...58
Table of Contents ..............4
Millions in federal dollars are being spent in Arizona on a 10-mi. (16 km) stretch of Interstate 10 between Interstate 8 and State Route 87, a small piece of the most southern coast to coast and highly traveled interstate in the nation. Currently under construction for lane
widening, realigned ramps and paving, it also will include scenic beautification when all that’s done. Many bridges and overpasses throughout Arizona are getting a reputation for being works of art. Their enhancements reflect the surrounding community, which in this part of the country includes Indian traditions and culture. see ENHANCEMENTS page 16
Congress has passed a stopgap six-month extension of current highway and transit funding but is now over two years behind in reauthorizing a critically needed full six-year highway and surface transportation bill — representing many billions of dollars in transportation projects — to replace the $286-billion SAFETEA-LU act, which expired Sept. 30, 2009. The six-month extension, through March, 2012, provides $20 billion for the critical projects, meeting a Sept. 30 deadline, when the last of seven extensions of the former law expired. But the multi-year funding, which contractors desperately need for purchasing and planning, remains a huge unanswered question. Congress has also reauthorized, for six months, the federal gasoline tax, which supports the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), the main federal funding source for highway and bridge construction. This tax, last authorized in 2005, was also to expire on Sept. 30. Without it, highway, bridge and surface transportation work would be largely unfunded, with much work grinding to a halt, and more construction jobs lost. “The House and Senate leadership recognized that allowing transportation programs to shut down would be disastrous,” commented Brian Turmail, senior director of public affairs for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) in Arlington, Va. The Senate sent President Obama the fundsee HIGHWAY page 42
Business Calendar............16 Mini & Compact Equipment Section ........................17-29 Paving Section ...........45-52 Auction Section ..........55-63 Advertisers Index ............62
Loss of Fly Ash Could Increase Building Costs The cost to build roads, runways and bridges would increase by an estimated $104.6 billion over the next 20 years if coal fly ash is no longer available as a transportation construction building material, according to a new study by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s Transportation
Development Foundation (ARTBA-TDF). Fly ash is a byproduct of coal combustion for electricity generation. It is widely used as a supplementary cementitious material in the production of concrete. Fly ash concrete is a mixture of choice for many state and local transportation departments and transportation engi-
neers because of its performance enhancing and cost-saving benefits. It also has been praised for its environmental benefits as a “green” building material — putting to use an energy production byproduct that reduces demand for carbon-intensive portland cement, see ASH page 44