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December 28, 2013 • Vol. IX • No. 26 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215/885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215/885-2910
Inside
WSDOT Oversees Railway Improvements
Dire States Tour Makes Colorado Stop...12
The Washington State Rail Plan will serve as a strategic blueprint for future public investment in the state’s rail transportation system, providing an integrated plan for freight and passenger rail, including 5- and 20-year funding strategies, that meets federal and state requirements. Contractor Rids C alif. of Traffic Jam...27
ConExpo Retro See page 20 for an ongoing series of highlights from past ConExpos as they were reported in the pages of CEG.
Table of Contents ................4 California Section ........27-29 Underground Utility, Trenchers & Trench Boxes Section ..........................37-39 Paving Section..............41-49 Business Calendar ............51 Auction Section ..........53-57 Advertisers Index ..............58
By Lori Lovely CEG CORRESPONDENT
State departments of transportation are most often thought of in connection with roadways, but in Washington State, the DOT is busy overseeing railways. Washington State Department of Transportation is the steward of a large transportation system, responsible for ensuring that people and goods move safely and efficiently. In addition to building, maintaining, and
Crews are adding hundreds of tons of steel framing, a new foundation, as well as HVAC, water and electric systems. It’s the first remodel since the 1970s.
operating the state highway system, WSDOT is responsible for the state ferry system, and works in partnership with others to maintain and improve local roads, railroads, airports, and multimodal alternatives to driving. WSDOT manages and directs the state’s rail programs (both freight and passenger), including the state’s freight grants and loans programs. Passenger rail service has regained significance throughout the Pacific Northwest, due to a growing population, increasing highway con-
Construction on a $16.1 million federally funded project began in August 2013 to help stabilize slopes above the rail line near Everett.
gestion along the I-5 corridor and environmental concerns. Ridership on Amtrak Cascade services has grown from less than 200,000 in 1996 to more than 836,000 in 2012, while Sound Transit’s Sounder commuter rail went from startup in 2000 to more than 2.8 million riders in 2012. Amtrak’s two long-distance trains that serve the state — the Coast Starlight and the Empire Builder — also have had significant gains in ridership in the last 20 years. see WSDOT page 16
Volvo Group Agrees U.S. Supreme Court Rules to Sell Volvo Rents in Favor of ASA Brief As part of efforts to focus on its core business, the Volvo Group has agreed to sell Volvo Rents to the U.S. private equity firm Platinum Equity for $1.1 billion. Volvo Construction Equipment will continue to sell products to Volvo Rents under the new ownership. Volvo Rents offers rental of a range of machines intended for the construction and engineering industry, including Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) products. Volvo Rents has operations in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico and 2,100 employees. Platinum Equity is a California-based investment firm with experience of investing in the equipment rental market. “We looked at different alternatives to grow Volvo Rents’ see VOLVO page 32
In a victory for construction subcontractors, the U.S. Supreme Court preserved the 24 state laws limiting the validity of forum-selection clauses in construction contracts in its ruling on Dec. 3 in Atlantic Marine Construction Co. Inc. v. United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, et al. The American Subcontractors Association filed an amicus brief in the case in August, telling the Supreme Court that a poor decision
“… would compel federal courts to disregard: (1) the law of the state where the project was located, and (2) the legitimate policy concerns those laws were designed to address.” The Supreme Court said that when a federal court considers the forum for a case, “the court should not consider the parties’ private interests aside from those embodied in the forum-selection clause; it may consider only public interests.” see ASA page 32