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October 3, 2015 • Vol. IX • No. 20 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215/885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215/885-2910
Inside
Fighting Fire With Iron San Diego County Route 76 Widening Project Progresses
Motion Machinery Makes New Purchase...12
By Irwin Rapoport CEG CORRESPONDENT
Hyundai Hosts Dealers at Its Headquarters...22
Heavy equipment stands by on the Stout’s Creek Fire in August.
By Lori Tobias CEG CORRESPONDENT
Ad space available!
See Page 13
Table of Contents ................4 Off-Road Trucks Section ........ ......................................23-33 Paving Section ..............53-61 Business Calendar ............62 Auction Section ............65-75 Advertisers Index ..............74
News of forest fires generally calls to mind the courageous souls who risk their lives to fight them. As it turns out, there’s another component to the battle — heavy equipment and lots of it, too. “Without equipment, there is no way we could fight fires,” said Tracy Wrolson acting assistant district forest supervisor of the Oregon Department of Forestry. “Equipment is 100 percent essential to firefighting activity.” And this year in the Pacific Northwest, there was plenty of that with some 40
crews of 20 people each working fires that raged throughout Washington and Oregon. The largest in Oregon was the 110,000-acre Canyon Creek Complex fire. Ignited by lightening on Aug. 12, it destroyed 43 homes and damaged more than 50 other structures in eastern Oregon. The heavy equipment comes into play at various phases of the fires. Early on, crews will use it to contain the blaze, such as with the bulldozers used to build fire lines. “Sometimes in conjunction with the dozers you might see hot saws, an excavator with a saw on the end,” said Christie
The upgrade and widening of state Route 76 (an eastwest highway) in California’s San Diego County, continues with the second installment of work on the east segment by Ames Construction Inc. The $76 million project will convert 5.2 mi. (8.36 km) of road from two lanes to four lanes. The first phase of the east work, the construction of the SR 76/I-15 interchange, began in October 2012, and was completed in summer 2013, by Flatiron Construction. Phase 2 of the project is to widen and realign the roadway from South Mission Road to SR 76/I-15 Interchange. This phase began in November 2014, and should be completed in August 2017. “This is the last of the projects on this major link between Interstate 5 and I-15 and will complete one of the high-priority transportation projects included in the region’s TransNet Early Action Program,” stated a Caltrans fact sheet for the project. “Once completed, the new four-lane highway will be a key transportation asset to help meet future travel demand. The current traffic volume on SR 76 between South Mission Road see UPGRADE page 16
see FIRES page 46
Texas Reviews Water Grid EL PASO, Texas (AP) A proposal to study the possibility of a statewide network that would pump water across vast Texas should be sidetracked until more immediate attempts at water conservation are examined, a top official in Texas’ largest environmental group said.
“If we're going to do a study, we need a comprehensive study of how efficient we can become,” said Ken Kramer, water resources chairman of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. The El Paso Times reported a proposed water grid study from two
Republican state lawmakers, Rep. Lyle Larson of San Antonio and Sen. Charles Perry of Lubbock, failed in the most recent legislative session but remains a likely topic for lawmakers when they return in 2017. Texas is facing water see TEXAS page 46
Ames Construction Inc. photo
Permanent animal crossings underneath the highway are being constructed to facilitate safe wildlife movement through the river corridor, as well as directional fencing.