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December 13, 2014 • Vol. IX • No. 25 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215/885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215/885-2910
Inside
Colorado Dam Project: Creating a Safe Passageway
PIRTEK Expands Wi th Broadway Facil ity...23
Hamilton Construction Company began work as the CM/GC on the Bend Park and Recreation Colorado Dam Safe Passage Project in October, working with OTAK Engineering on the design for the past 18 months.
Work is under way on a $9.7 million project that will include restoration of a dam, construction of a pedestrian/cyclist bridge and for the first time in Oregon, the manmade sculpting of a white water course. Felling Trailers Celebrates 40 Years...33
Ritchie Sees Big Turnout at For t Wor th Sale...56
Table of Contents ................4 Attachments Section ..15-19 Truck & Trailer Section ........ ......................................33-35
By Lori Tobias CEG CORRESPONDENT
Work is under way on a $9.7 million project that will include restoration of a dam, construction of a pedestrian/cyclist bridge and for the first time in Oregon, the manmade sculpting of a white water course. Hamilton Construction Company began work as the CM/GC on the Bend Park and Recreation Colorado Dam Safe Passage Project in October, working with OTAK Engineering on the design for the past 18 months. The project has been under discussion for about a decade, said Chelsea Schneider, project manager of the Bend Park and Recreation District. That was about the
time the Deschutes River was opened to boaters. “Previously this was mill property,” Schneider said. “No one was getting into the area. Then the mill closed down, and people started to float the river. They were to float to the Colorado Dam and take out. Unfortunately, some people have failed to take out. There were rescue events every summer. Just downstream of the spillway, there is a complete jumble of rip rap. That’s what people can get caught in. They get trapped, even trapped upside down. There was one fatality on the site.” There are four other dams on the Deschutes, but the Colorado Dam is the most dangerous and so it became the top priority, Schneider said.
ARTBA: Roadside Ditches Are Not ‘Waters of the U.S.’ The potential delays and increased costs that would result from extending federal authority to cover roadside ditches would divert resources from timely maintenance activities and potentially threaten the role ditches play in promoting roadway safety, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). The association submitted comments Nov. 14 to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) opposing a proposed regulation that would alter the definition of “waters of the United States” and expand federal regulation to cover virtually any wet area in the country — including roadside ditches. ARTBA explained that while current federal regula-
see DAM page 32
see DITCHES page 54
Government to Deliver Early Holiday Present?
Recycling Section ........41-49 Auction Section ..........52-59 Business Calendar ............57 Advertisers Index ..............58
The U.S. House of Representatives passed late Wednesday, Dec. 3, the Tax Increase Prevention Act. Among the 50 expired tax breaks the bill would extend is a reinstatement of the 50 percent depreciation bonus
for 2014 and an increase of the Section 179 expensing levels this year to $500,000 with a $2 million phase-out cap. Both of these tax breaks expired Dec. 31, 2013. At press time, the Senate on Dec. 10 was expected to take up and pass
the bill, which would then go to the president to sign. In addition to affecting equipment purchases made in 2014 retroactively, this bill would in effect create a window for last-minute purchases made prior to Dec. 31, 2014, to be included.
Visit www.constructionequipmentguide.com for continuing updates on this measure. (This story also can be found on Construction Equipment Guide’s Web site at www.constructionequipmentguide.com.) CEG