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December 12, 2015 • Vol. IX • No. 25 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215/885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215/885-2910
Inside
ODOT Repairs Historic 83-Year-Old Rock Wall By Lori Tobias CEG CORRESPONDENT
Pumpi ng Station Work Begins on Lake Mead. ..12
‘I Make America’ Awards Announced...14
Alex Lyon’s December Sale is a Success...64
Restoration work is under way on a historic wall along the designated scenic Highway 101 on the Oregon Coast that was originally constructed in 1932. Built some 400 ft. (122 m) above the Pacific Ocean, the basalt rock wall stretches as much as 20 ft. (61 m) deep on the seaward side, but stands only 12 in. to 3 ft. (30 cm to .91 m) in height on the roadway. “They wanted to put something up so people wouldn’t just go over the side into the ocean,” said Sarah Jalving, Oregon Department of Transportation architectural historian. “But they also realized there were very beautiful vistas. It was built for tourists so they could pull off the road and enjoy the vistas. Today, if we were to build something it would be much, much higher to meet safety standards today. But because of the historic feature, we are able to get design exception so we can build to its historic profile.” When constructed more than eight decades ago, the wall was
Restoration work is under way on a historic wall along the designated scenic Highway 101 on the Oregon Coast that was originally constructed in 1932.
part of a highway project that was the most expensive mile of highway ever built by the Bureau of Public Roads, and dubbed as the “half-million-dollar-mile.” It is one of four rockwork walls on the coast, and is the second longest
span of the four, stretching fourtenths of a mile from milepost 178.82 to 179.18 on the central coast just north of the city of Florence. The wall features two turnouts and a repeated crenellated parapet design.
The work is being done by contractor HP Civil Inc. of Stayton, Ore. and Tigard, Ore., subcontractor Pioneer Waterproofing Company, a masonry contractor. “It’s just a simple basalt wall,” see ODOT page 16
Table of Contents ................4
Obama Signs Infrastructure Spending Bill
Attachments Section ..17-24
By Joan Lowy ASSOCIATED PRESS
Recycling Section ........39-53 Truck & Trailer Section ........ ......................................55-57 Auction Section ..........60-65 Business Calendar ............63 Advertisers Index ..............66
WASHINGTON (AP) A 5-year, $305-billion bill to address the nation’s aging and congested transportation systems was signed into law Dec. 4 by President Barack Obama, who said it will put Americans to work and provide states with the federal help they need to commit to long-term projects. The bill, which was overwhelmingly approved by Congress a day earlier, provides a modest increase to highway and transit spending but falls short of the $400 billion over six
years administration officials said is necessary to keep traffic congestion from worsening. Nor does it resolve how to pay for transportation programs in the long term. Obama said he’ll continue to push for greater transportation spending to meet the nation’s infrastructure needs and create jobs. “This bill is not perfect, but it is a commonsense compromise, and an important first step in the right direction,” Obama said in a statement. Despite that, the 1,300-page bill was hailed by lawmakers and the industry as a major accomplishment that will halt the cycle of last-
minute, short-term fixes that have kept the federal Highway Trust Fund teetering on the edge of insolvency for much of the past eight years. Republican leaders pointed to the bill’s passage as evidence of their ability to govern, and Obama can claim progress on addressing the nation’s deficient bridges and crowded highways, a major goal since the early days of his administration. Lawmakers in both parties praised the bill as a model of bipartisan cooperation. Support for the measure was increased by a generous helping of business favors, parochial provisee OBAMA page 32