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November 16, 2013 • Vol. IX • No. 23 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215/885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215/885-2910
Inside
Crews Replace Washington Span After Collapse WSDOT photo
U Rent It Showcases Chicago Pneumatic...8
WSDOT photo
The emergency replacement of a span of the Interstate 5 Skagit River Bridge in Washington State (linking the communities of Burlington and Mount Vernon) is fully complete as of midNovember.
By Irwin Rapoport Morbark Hosts Annual Fall Demo...35
ConExpo Retro See page 32 for an ongoing series of highlights from past ConExpos as they were reported in the pages of CEG.
Table of Contents ................4 Attachments Section ............ .................................... 15-19 Truck & Trailer Section ........ ......................................27-29 Recycling Section ........35-49 Auction Section ..........52-59 Business Calendar ............54 Advertisers Index ..............58
CEG CORRESPONDENT
The emergency replacement of a span of the Interstate 5 Skagit River Bridge in Washington State (linking the communities of Burlington and Mount Vernon) is fully complete as of midNovember. PCL Civil Constructors completed the third phase of the project — the steel structural upgrades to the three spans that were unaffected by the accident which had one of the four spans above the water collapse when an oversized semi-truck hit critical steel supports on May 23.
A Grove RT760E 60-ton (54 t) rough-terrain crane was used to erect the pieces of the bridge.
The nearly $20 million project — financed by Federal Emergency Relief Funds, had the temporary span in place on June 19 and the replacement span installed on Sept. 15. The bridge itself, 640 ft. (195 m) long (four connected spans), has two lanes in each direction and a median dividing them. More then 71,000 vehicles cross the bridge on a daily basis. Repairing the bridge was a priority project for the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and that was reflected in the rapidity of the awarding of the contract to install a temporary span to Guy. F.W. Atkinson Construction see COLLAPSE page 14
Bayonet Breakers Provides Miracles After West Tragedy In the world of heavy equipment, many words come to mind. Hard work, knowledge, expertise, and grit are a few but miracle is not normally one of them—until now. Tragedies are exactly what they sound like…tragic. Sometimes even tragedies spawn miracles and bring out the very best in people.
Everyone will remember the tragic events of April of 2013 when the West Fertilizer Plant in West, Texas, caught fire, resulting in two devastating ammonium nitrate explosions that killed 15 and injured more than 160 people. In just moments following the explosions, hundreds of people from surrounding com-
munities responded to help in any way possible. The devastation could only be described as a war zone. A 26-unit apartment complex just across the railroad track from the fertilizer plant was completely destroyed as was the West Rest Haven Retirement Home and an assisted living facility two see UNDERWOOD page 26
Construction Creates 20,000 Jobs in Sept. Construction employment rose by 20,000 in September and the industry’s unemployment rate fell to a six-year low of 8.5 percent, while construction spending increased for the fifth consecutive month in August, according to an analysis of new government data by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials cautioned that the data does not address any potential impacts from the recent federal government shutdown. “Both of these reports show the industry was doing relatively well before the federal government shutdown forced many firms to hit the pause button,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “But the shutdown likely disrupted a wide variety of projects and may have caused private investors and developers to delay decisions about new projects or plant expansions. As a result, future spending and hiring gains may be weaker.” see JOBS page 50