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® June 12 2010 Vol. XVII • No. 12
“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
Nortrax Holds Emissions Clinic...16
Bobcat and Doosan Unveil New Products...26
McCann Recognized for Safety...49
Table of Contents ............4 Crawler Loaders, Dozers, Undercarriages & Parts Section......................31-35 Paving Section ........57-69 Parts Section ................71 Auction Section ......77-86 Business Calendar ........83 Advertisers Index ..........87
Hectic Pace in Play as I-94 Construction Nears Completion by Dorinda Anderson, CEG CORRESPONDENT
Reconstructing a 35-mi. (56.3 km) stretch of Interstate 94 in Southeast Wisconsin contains no unusual techniques, but it involves a heightened work schedule in order to complete each segment on time. “This is nothing unique, just a lot of work with a lot of crews,” said Jay Obenberger, project manager with Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Southeast region. “It is the most impressive schedule we’ve done in DOT history in order to complete it in a 10-month period.” The project runs from the Illinois state line to Mitchell Interchange and includes the WIS 119 Airport Spur to General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee. There are 18 service interchanges within the Interstate 94 North-South Freeway project limits; 17 of those interchanges are being rebuilt, moving ramp exits to the right side of the freeway. The project is expected to improve safety, help ease congestion and modernize this transportation artery.
Crews work at night to demolish a bridge along a 35-mi. (56.3 km) section of Interstate 94 in Wisconsin from the Illinois state line to Milwaukee
The highway will be reconstructed to expand capacity from three to four lanes in northbound and southbound directions, providing consistent inside and outside shoulders, constructing a paved median with a concrete barrier, and pushing out frontage roads in Kenosha and Racine counties. The project includes 17 local access interchanges that will receive design improvements. The highway was first built in the late 1950s and early 1960s, which today creates safety issues, pavement and design deficiencies and traffic congestion, DOT information said. Much of the corridor has been resurfaced three times. Additional resurfacings are not cost effective and will see SCHEDULE page 42
Former AED President, Oil Spill Cement Michael Sill, Passes Away Work Examined Michael Robert Sill, former president of Associated Equipment Distributors, passed away May 28, at the age of 78. Mr. Sill grew up in Duluth, Minn., and graduated from Duluth Central High School, and the University of Minnesota, Duluth. After serving in the United States Air Force from 1951 to 1953, Mr. Sill went to work for Road Machinery & Supplies Co. (RMS), the company his father started in 1926. In 1956, he moved to Minneapolis to start a RMS branch office and worked for the company until his retirement in 1996. During that time, Mr. Sill played a pivotal role in the success of RMS, helping the company become statewide represen-
tative of Clark (wheel loaders), Blaw Knox (asphalt pavers), and Link Belt (cranes and excavators) by 1960. He helped the company grow further as RMS entered the truck equipment business in 1972 and expanded that operation in 1979 when it became the Midwest distributor of Telelect Products and other lines of truck mounted equipment in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa. By 1980, Road Machinery took on representation of Komatsu dozers and by 1985 had added the Komatsu wheel loader and excavator product lines. Komatsu is the second largest manufacturer of construction equipment in the
The tricky process of sealing an offshore oil well with cement — suspected as a major contributor to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster — has failed dozens of times in the past, according to an Associated Press investigation. Federal regulators don’t regulate what type of cement is used, leaving it up to oil and gas companies. The drillers are urged to follow guidelines of the American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group. Far more stringent federal and state standards and controls exist on cement work for roads, bridges and buildings. While the chain of failures leading up to the April 20
see SILL page 38
see CEMENT page 56
By Mitch Weiss and Jeff Donn ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS