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® October 13 2010
Vol. XLVIII • No. 21
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded 1957.”
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Six-Year Highway Bill Awaits Debate Up on Capitol Hill
Inside
By Pete Sigmund
UTCA Holds Annual Convention in A.C. …8
Tracey Road Equipment Hosts Open House…14
CEG EDITORIAL CONSULTANT
The new road will be 1.6 mi. (2.5 km) long, with two lanes in each direction. In addition, the project will include the construction of three new bridges. This bridge raising took place in spring 2010.
Richmond International Airport Receives Upgrade By Brenda Ruggiero CEG CORRESPONDENT
Case Launches New N Series Backhoes…42
Table of Contents ........4 Truck & Trailer Section .. ..............................65-69 Crushing, Screening & Recycling Section 73-95 Parts Section ....112-113 Auction Section121-140 Business Calendar....125 Advertisers Index ....138
A crucial upgrade for the Richmond International Airport is well on the way toward completion in Richmond, Va. The Airport Connector Road project is being constructed by Transurban USA, with Rich Prezioso Jr., serving as project manager. The design-build contractor is American Infrastructure. The full amount
for the design-build contract is $39.5 million. The contract was awarded by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). Pre-construction activities took place in late 2008, and the official groundbreaking was on Dec. 2, 2008. Construction began in early 2009, and the substantial completion date is set for March 2011.
A new six-year highway and surface transportation bill, which may be enacted within the next six months, would have to increase infrastructure spending to almost half a trillion dollars to meet critical needs of roads, bridges, mass transit and other vital sectors. The previous “SAFETEA-LU” act, which expired Sept. 30, 2009, authorized $286 billion. Funding a large increase in a fragile and politically contentious climate will be a huge issue. “The numbers which are circulating on Capitol Hill are between $450 billion and $500 billion for the life of the next multi-year bill,” said Jeff Solsby, director of public affairs of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) in Washington, D.C. “It’s not outside the realm of possibility that a bill will be passed before the end of 2010 but, more realistically, it could be passed in a period of time between now and next spring.” Rep. James Oberstar (D- Minn.), chairman of the House Transportation Committee, had proposed a $450 billion bill last year, but it was bypassed in the urgent focus on health care reform. “Mr. Oberstar’s bill comes pretty close to what the federal share should be to meet highway maintenance needs, said Dr. William Buechner, ARTBA’s vice president of economics and research. “We’re falling short by $30 billion to $40 billion a year from what we should be doing.” Whether a large amount will be authorized is a big
see RICHMOND page 28
see BILL page 34
E-mail Raises Questions About Tunnel Funds By Beth DeFalco
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) As early as March, Gov. Chris Christie’s administration may have been considering withholding the state’s $2.7 billion portion of money to pay for a new tunnel
from New Jersey to Manhattan, according to an e-mail and conversations from a high-level state Transportation Department official. Recently, the governor ordered a 30-day halt to all new work on the tunnel over concerns that the $8.7 billion project would go over its budget and New Jersey would be forced to cover the
overrun, which Christie said is now between $2 billion and $5 billion. In an e-mail to a staffer for U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, who helped secure $3 billion in federal funding for the tunnel, see TUNNEL page 137