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Midwest Edition
May 1 2010 Vol. XVII • No. 9
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded 1957.” 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215/885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215/885-2910 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com
Inside
Nation’s First ARRA Funded Project Nears Completion
Plote, Patten Team Up to Cut Costs…12
Nortrax Hosts Open House in Eau Claire…27
Lt. Col. Darrell Bennis (L), U.S. Army, speaks with CNH worker Victor Medina, who has a son serving in the U.S. Air Force in Afghanistan.
A crew member looks across the construction site of the new Tuscumbia Bridge in central Missouri. The new bridge is being built next to the existing bridge (seen on the far right), which was built in the 1930s
By Kathie Sutin CEG CORRESPONDENT
I.R.A.Y Shows Off Equipment…62
Table of Contents ............4 Parts Section ................33 Crushing, Screening & Recycling Section ....37-47 Truck & Trailer Section .... ..................................49-52 Auction Section ......57-67 Business Calendar ........60 Advertisers Index ..........66
Despite wet weather and a fluctuating river, America’s first stimulus fund project is lumbering toward an on-time completion and should be open to traffic this summer. The new bridge under construction near the tiny town of Tuscumbia, Mo., population: 224, was heralded as the nation’s first project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Thanks to close monitoring of the events in Washington by Missouri Department of Transportation staff, earth-moving equipment sprung into action just minutes after President
Barack Obama signed the legislation launching the stimulus program last year. Today the bridge is nearing completion, and vehicles will be driving on it in just a couple of months although the entire project, including removal of the existing bridge, won’t come to a complete end until October. The old bridge that carries Routes 17 and 52 over the Osage River in Miller County centered in the middle of the state was built in the 1930s. “Believe it or not, that bridge was built back during FDR’s New Deal, Works Progress Administration (WPA) days (and now an Economic Recovery Act project is actually replacing that bridge,” Roger Schwartze, MoDOT see BRIDGE page 36
New Case Skid Steers on Way to Afghanistan Case Construction Equipment welcomed guests from the U.S. Army TACOM (Tank-automotive and Armaments Command) to the CNH plant in Wichita, Kan., to commemorate its recent military skid steer production startup. The Army’s first 25 M400W skid steers have come off the production line at CNH and are being prepared for shipping to troops in Afghanistan. Case Construction Equipment celesee TROOPS page 14
Kan. Officials Eye Familiar Path With Road Plan By John Milburn ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated a number of public projects to get the United States working again. Now, with the nation struggling to emerge from recession and the state’s unemployment rate staying above 6 percent, Kansas officials
are eyeing a new transportation program to get the state on the road to recovery. The idea has worked before. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that if we were to pass a new transportation program, you would see a lot of people who are put back to work,” said House Minority Leader Paul Davis. “There would be an economic stimulus effect.” In 1989, Kansas implemented a 10-year highway program that invested in reconstruction and
major modification of thousands of miles of roads. A second plan was passed in 1999, expanding its scope to rail and aviation. “I think it helped mitigate previous recessions” in the 1990s and early 2000s, said Senate President Steve Morris. Transportation Secretary Deb Miller said those efforts enhanced safety and expanded infrastructure with lasting economic benefits. see KANSAS page 33