$3.00
Published Nationally ®
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded 1957.”
Western Edition
www.constructionequipmentguide.com
December 15, 2012 • Vol. VIII • No. 25 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215/885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215/885-2910
Inside
Engineers Call Bullet Train Job of the Century
Caterpillar Holds Event for Media...8
Approximately 20,000 cu. yds. (15,291 cu m) of earth were excavated for the new Diverging Diamond Interchange.
Christmas Tree Makes Tr ip to U.S. Capitol...28
Nevada Opens Diverging Diamond Interchange By Jennifer Rupp CEG CORRESPONDENT
Vaughan Auction A ttracts Diverse Bidders...48
Table of Contents ................4 Recycling Section ........13-22
The new interchange at I-580 and Moana Lane in Reno brought about a round of “firsts” for the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT). The construction of a Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI), a design that is growing in popularity in the U.S., has set the stage for future interchange projects that aspire to be built in an innovative and efficient manner.
With just 64 working days to complete the project, prime contractor Granite Construction renovated the old interchange into one that accelerates traffic and reduces the risk of accidents. The $6.9 million project began in Sept. 12, 2012, when the interchange was partially shut down for reconstruction. Work proceeded in two phases and was complete before the Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 21, 2012. Project improvements include: drive time see DIAMOND page 12
LOS ANGELES (AP) A bullet train linking Northern and Southern California will be an audacious engineering feat because the line must cross two mountain ranges and a halfdozen earthquake faults, experts said. Planners foresee the 141-mi. (227 km) segment from Bakersfield to Los Angeles running through vast tunnels, delving through the Tehachapi and San Gabriel mountains, plunging 500 ft. (152 m) underground in some places and soaring over canyons on viaducts 200 to 330 ft. (61 to 100.1 m) high, the Los Angeles Times. “It is the project of the century,” said Bill Ibbs, a civil engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley who has worked on high-speed rail projects around the world. The $68 billion first phase of the project is expected to run more than 500 miles between San Francisco and the Los Angeles and Anaheim areas by 2029. Eventually, supporters hope for high-speed lines running all the way from Sacramento to San Diego. Conditions set for the project say it must be able to reach San Francisco from Los Angeles in no more than 2 hours and 40 minutes. The top speed for the Bakersfield-to-LA segment could be 220 mph. In September, the Federal Railroad Administration approved construction of the first segment, a 65-mi. stretch from Merced to Fresno in the Central Valley. Construction is expected to begin next year. see BULLET page 32
Truck & Trailer Section ........ ......................................28-31 Attachment Section ....23-25 Auction Section ..........43-53 Business Calendar ............38 Advertisers Index ..............50
Ritchie Bros. to Hold FirstAuction in China Ritchie Bros. will be holding its first unreserved public auction in China during Spring 2013. Although relatively new to the Chinese heavy equipment market, unreserved industrial auctions have been a quick and easy method for
equipment buyers and sellers to conduct business on a global scale. Ritchie Bros. will bring the certainty of unreserved auctions to Chinese equipment buyers and sellers now that the company’s wholly owned foreign enterprise appli-
cation has been approved by the Chinese government — making it the first foreign auction company to receive this approval. Ritchie Bros. has formally leased land in the see RITCHIE page 34