Southeast #24, 2009 - CEG by Construction Equipment Guide

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December 2 2009

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Vol. XXII • No. 24

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Inside

Katrina Victims’ Compensation Given by Judge

Blanchard Hosts ‘Fan Appreciation Day’…14

By Cain Burdeau ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Beyel Does Heavy Lifting for Power Plant in Fla. …25 Published Nationally ®

Southeast Edition

November 18 2009

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Vol. XXII • No. 23

Inside

I-40 Landslide May Take Six Months to Clear By Eric Olson CEG CORRESPONDENT

Rhinehartt Purchases Perimeterr Bobcat…8

Charlotte’s s Terex x Service Expands s Offerings…10 Published Nationally ®

Southeast Edition

November 4 2009

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Vol. XXII • No. 22

Congress Lags on Highway Bill Extension

Inside

By Giles Lambertson CEG CORRESPONDENT

D.H.. Griffin n Welcomes Guests s to o Annuall Fish h Fry…8

When the U.S. Senate failed in September to enact six-year transportation legislation or to extend the existing funding authority in a responsible way, it created a billion-dollar-a-month hole for the construction industry. “The baseline for the federal highway account is reduced by a billion dollars each month we have a continuing resolution,” said Tony Dorsey, media spokesman of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). “It will cost our members one billion dollars every month we have a resolution.” While the huge loss is mostly on paper — so far — it nonetheless is a drag on the construction economy. Here’s the deal: Though the Senate agreed with the House at the very last moment to a one-month the biggest difference on rainy extension of existing transportation funding Saturdays due to an unseen tech- authority, senators failed to include a provision to roll back funding rescissions stipunology under their very feet. For years, the approximately lated in the last six-year bill. The $8.7 billion 30-acre site had been a dirt and in rescission money was a bookkeeping grass parking lot for more than method of understating the true cost of 4,000 vehicles. Minor flooding SAFETEA-LU, which was passed in 2005 had proven to be a major (two years into the six years of its effective headache at the site as it sits in a authority). The sleight of hand was needed

U.S. Group installed more than 2,500 yellow storm water chambers about 5 ft. (1.5 m) underground, each of which allows rainwater to soak into the ground underneath the parking area, rather than run off into the surrounding area. HydrauliCircuitt Sees Majorr Growth…14

Innovative Drainage Key to New Parking Area for Gamecock Games By Eric Olson

The just-opened parking area, on the southwest side of Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, also serves visitors to the South Carolina State Fair, which will ran this year from Oct. 14 to 25. Football fans and fair goers alike who have parked near the stadium in the past should notice

CEG CORRESPONDENT

Ring g Powerr Opens s New Full-Service e Facility…32

Table of Contents ........4

Tailgate parties at University of South Carolina (USC) Gamecocks football games should be more enjoyable this fall with the construction of a sparkling new parking area adjacent to the stadium.

see EXTENSION page 58

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Trailers Section ....36-39

see PARKING page 28

Our Latest Issues Are Now Online!

Southeast

Business Calendar......28

Southeast Edition

October 7 2009

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Vol XXII • No 20

Inside

mentguide.com

Georgia Flood Recovery Begins in Earnest By Lori Lovely CEG CORRESPONDENT

Paving Section ......43-55 Parts Section ........58-59 Auction Section ....70-79

Stafford Holds Open House at Its New Va a . Facility…8

HCEA Holds 24th Annual Convention…18

Stt . Johns River Dredging Under Way y …27

Table of Contents ............4 Paving Section ........33-45 Mini & Compact Equipment Section ..49-62 Parts Section............64-65

Advertisers Index ......78

Business Calendar ........74 Auction Section ......80-91 Advertisers Index ..........90

Aseries of torrential downpours in the Atlanta metro area in late September caused what U.S. Geological Survey experts deemed a 500-year flood, leaving 10 people dead and 20 counties in Georgia disaster areas. The rain also triggered extensive flooding throughout Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. Flooding in Atlanta peaked on Sept. 21, after more than 20 in. of rain fell overnight. Georgia Gov Sonny Perdue quickly declared a state of emergency in 17 Georgia counties, clearing the way for the massive deployment of state personnel and equipment. President Barack Obama followed suit in similar rapid manner, issuing a Federal Disaster Declaration for individual assistance to aid residents of the 14 counties that were hardest hit: Carroll, Catoosa, Chattooga, Cherokee, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fulton, Gwinnett, Newton, Paulding, Rockdale, Stephens and Walker The Georgia Emergency Management Agency coordinated the state’s recovery effort with local, state, federal and volunteer counterparts. “Damage assessment teams are continuing to work with local authorities in all affected areas of the state to assess losses,” Georgia Emergency Management Agency Director Charley English told reporters in the days following the flood. With reports of closed highways, roads, bridges, schools and businesses, and as many as 20,000 homes and other structures that have suffered major damage, Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine adjusted his initial estimate of flood-related insurance claims, doubling the total to as much as $500 million. However Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, isn’t happy with even the revised numbers. She predicted to presidential officials that damage will reach $1 billion, pointing out that repairing the R.M. Clayton sewage treatment plant on the Chattahoochee River could cost $100 million alone. GDOT Deployment While stating its own prediction of $2 billion in damages, the Georgia Department of see FLOOD page 25

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Constructing Healthy Look at Health Care

Inside

Cat 321C LCR and 330DL excavators are hard at work at a C.W. Matthews project in Northeast Cobb County, Ga., for emergency Cobb DOT road replacement, which included installation of a triple barrel 72 in (183 cm)., 70 ft. (21 m) long piping system and temporary road to service 40 homes that were without a roadway to get out of their Waterford subdivision homes.

Hensel Phelps Leads Charge for New Fort Bragg Commands By Angela B. Hurni CEG CORRESPONDENT

In 2005, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) law was passed by Congress. With BRAC, the Department of Defense reorganized its installation infrastructure in order to more effectively and efficiently support its forces. As a result of this law operational readiness would increase and allow for innovation in doing business. A major change that has occurred under BRAC involves moving two commands, U.S. Armed Forces Command (FORSCOM) and

the U.S. Army Reserve Command from Fort McPherson, in Atlanta, to Fort Bragg, in Fayetteville, N.C. The new Command Headquarters complex is currently under construction at Fort Bragg. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Command Headquarters complex was held December 8, 2008, and construction began in February 2009. The building will house both commands, but they will remain separate. According to Billy Birdwell, Public Affairs Specialist, Savannah District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), “The consee BRAC page 67

Inside

Constructing Healthy Look at Health Care

Construction crews pour concrete for an abutment that will support the Route 202 parkway bridge over Route 309.

By Giles Lambertson CEG CORRESPONDENT

HO O LT Crane H osts O pen H ouse in H ouston…8

Horrocks Engineering and H.W Lochner Engineering are the designers and Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction is the general contractorSome of the bridges were transported as much as a mile and a half which is “a good distance,” Montoya said. “That was significant. There are a fair amount of projects where you move a bridge a couple hundred feet but we actually moved some of them a mile and a half.” The bridges that were moved vary in length from 85 to 173 ft. (25.9 to 52.7 m) and were 43 to 94 ft. (13 to 28.6 m) wide, Carlye Sommers, public involvement manager for Lochner said. The largest weighed in at 1,350 tons (1,220 t). The SPMT that moved the bridges had approximately 250 wheels and moved at an average speed of five miles per hour, Sommers said. The only route crews could move the bridges down was the same one they were working on so

Health care reform in the United States has been beaten nearly to death this year by advocates and critics alike. Yet as the debate moves into October, the final shape of “reform” remains elusive and elastic with construction industry executives anxious about its impact on their companies. Any change in the system definitely will have impact on contractors and a sweeping change could upend smaller firms — and most construction companies are small-tomedium-sized. The truth of the matter is the reform model in which government would provide most health care services would dramatically change the way every business operates, large or small. It is impractical to hope that health care reform will be tailored to the construction industry. Nevertheless, small businesses consistently favor certain reform initiatives over others. Were Washington to institute reform along the lines general contractors might lay down, the following features would be among the legislated changes: • New authority for associations to negotiate insurance packages for their members. Besides gaining clout in negotiating benefits, association insurance negotiators could win lower premiums, if given the opportunity Associated Builders and Contractors noted that private insurance carriers must mark up premiums as much as 35 percent when dealing with small groups in order to meet profit targets and offset overhead. Whereas associations can provide the same administrative services for their members at a cost of 15 percent or less — if, that is, members are allowed to buy insurance through small business

see UDOT page 37

see REFORM page 28

The bridges that were moved vary in length from 85 to 173 ft. (25.9 to 52.7 m) and were 43 to 94 ft. (13 to 28.6 m) wide. The largest weighed in at 1,350 tons (1,220 t). S cott-M M acon H olds G rand O pening in D a l as…14

Reconstruction on Schedule for UDOT’s $139M Project By Kathie Sutin CEG CORRESPONDENT

C ashman S u p orts S t art U s U p USA A ! in V egas…39

Table of Contents ........4 Crushing, Screening & Recycling Section ..19-23 Business Calendar ....20 Truck & Trailer......33-35 Parts Section ............37 Auction Section ....41-45 Advertisers Index ......46

Work on a Utah freeway reconstruction project so unusual it was featured as National Geographic Channel’s “World’ Toughest Fixes” is heading for an on-time, on-budget completion at the end of the year What made work on a 2-mi. (3.2 km) stretch of I-80 in Salt Lake City project extraordinary was the Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) method using Self Propelled Modular Transports (SPMT) to construct six of 12 bridges and one of two ramps in the project. The $139 million project along a 2-mi. stretch from State Street to 1300 East through Salt Lake City includes construction of the bridges and ramp “not at their final location,” John Montoya, project manager said. Instead, the girders and decks were constructed on the ground at a “bridge farm.” Massive transporters moved them to be lifted into place along the expressway

By Giles Lambertson CEG CORRESPONDENT

Philly Lifted to N ew w Parking H eights…8

A tlantic City W elcomes U TCA M embers…12

Words Into Action: Route 202 Parkway Finally Advances projects and this particular job was among those re-evaluated. As a result, a parkway was ultimately chosen as an appropriate solution for improving After many years of discussion, an ambitious travel conditions in the area while remaining within the limitations imposed by available funds. project to ease congestion in Pennsylvania’ densely populated Bucks and Montgomery counsee PARKWAY age 30 ties is finally under way with construction of a long-awaited parkway The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has estimated that by 2020 the new highway will be traveled by between 23,700 and 28,300 vehicles daily Gov Martin O’Malley announced that additional transportation Certain changes, however projects worth $30 million will be funded by President Barack had to be made before ground Obama’ American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). could be broken for the project. Funding for these additional projects is available due to savings According to PennDOT the generated by the intense competition for Maryland’ ARRA highparkway had initially been way and transit contracts advertised earlier this year planned as an expressway with “Without a doubt, President Obama’s recovery program is genlimited access. However in erating the desired effect here in Maryland,” said O’Malley March 2004, the department “Across our state, work is under way rehabilitating our roads, bridges and transit systems. Healthy competition for those state realized its projected revenues would not provide enough see FUNDS page 116 funding for all its proposed

By Mary Reed

CEG CORRESPONDENT

H C E A H olds 24th A nnual Convention…18

Table of Contents ............4 Truck & Trailer Section .... .................................. 58-63 Crushing, Screening & Recycling Section ....67-88 Parts Section ................89 Business Calendar ......111 Auction Section ..110-128 Advertisers Index ........126

Additional $30M in Funds En Route to Md.

Health care reform in the United States has been beaten nearly to death this year by advocates and critics alike. Yet as the debate moves into October the final shape of “reform” remains elusive and elastic with construction industry executives anxious about its impact on their companies. Any change in the system definitely will have impact on contractors and a sweeping change could upend smaller firms — and most construction companies are small-tomedium-sized. The truth of the matter is the reform model in which government would provide most health care services would dramatically change the way every business operates, large or small. It is impractical to hope that health care reform will be tailored to the construction industry. Nevertheless, small businesses consistently favor certain reform initiatives over others. Were Washington to institute reform along the lines general contractors might lay down, the following features • New authority for associations would be among the legislated changes: to negotiate insurance packages for their members. Besides gaining clout in negotiating benefits, association insurance negotiators could win lower premiums, if given the opportunity Associated Builders and Contractors noted that private insurance carriers must mark up premiums as much as 35 percent when dealing with small groups in order to meet profit targets and offset overhead. Whereas associations can provide the same administrative services for their members at a cost of 15 percent or less — if, that is, members are allowed to buy insurance through small business health plan pools. see REFORM page 22

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MDOTRehabilitates Crucial Mich. Corridor CEG CORRESPONDENT

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Antique Truck Lovers, NE Rockbusters Join for Sixth Annual Machine Show By Jay Adams CEG CORRESPONDENT

In trucking, cooperation is everything. The same could be said for construction work, all contracting and the running of any successful club or organization. Cooperation in all these arenas came together as one at the Antique Truck Club of America’s Little Rhody Chapter’ Sixth Annual Antique Truck Show on Sept. 13 on the Washington County Fairgrounds in Richmond, R.I. Working in conjunction with the Historical Construction Equipment Association’s (HCEA) Northeast Rockbusters once again, more than 60 members of the local Antique Truck Club brought out their finest old equipment, to the delight and surprise of other members, guests and enthusiasts. The Antique Truck Club and the Rockbusters hold this event every September drawing people from every New England state. Machines that range from the unusual to the sublime fill the flat fields of the fairgrounds for passersby to

admire. “We combine our shows. We support them and they support us, even in the rain,” said Jackie Volatile, who organizes these shows with her husband, Roger the club’s president. What made the presidential couple so proud this year was that the event was organized to raise money and food for the Rhode Island Food Bank. We brought in 800 pounds of canned goods. Last year, we fed 2,000 needy families for a year and we are quite proud of that,” said Jackie Volatile. They also are very proud of the cooperation and shared interests of their members who bring any and all working antique machines to these events, as long as they are able. “We welcome classic trucks, we welcome tractors, anything that comes in,” added Roger Volatile. “Antique is antique to us.” The Volatiles represent the Little Rhody Chapter at national events, usually held in the National Chapter’s home state of Pennsylvania. “There are 21 different chapters in the see ROCKBUSTERS page 14

H all Industrial Thanks C ustomers in O hio…58

Table of Contents ............4

A hort 19-mi. (30.5 km) stretch of road just north of Detroit has been transformed into an improvement project with a rather complicated strategy. Extensive work on the I-96/I-696 corridor in Oakland and Macomb counties has been divided into four separate projects. Project 1 consists of rehabilitation of eight bridges and repair of 4 mi. (6.4 km) of pavement in Oakland County between Novi and Halsted roads, including the I-96/I-696/M-5 interchange in Novi and Farmington Hills. Project 2 picks up where the first project ends and involves pavement patching and rehabilitation of 42 bridges on I-696 in Oakland County between Halsted and Campbell-Hilton roads. Project 3 focuses on rehabilitating 22 bridges on I-696, 15 of which are located within the I696/Mound Road interchange. Project 4 includes rehabilitation of six bridges and extensive pavement repairs to I-696 between Hayes and Nieman roads in Macomb County Also included are safety upgrades and lighting replacement on the median and ramps. Overlap For all practical purposes, the $67 million overall project has been divided into two contracts — east and west — with two prime contractors: Dan’s Excavating out of Grant, Mich., on the west contract and C.A. Hall on the east. But even that division is a little blurry “There are overlapping facets,” says Bob Daavettila, construction director for Tetra Tech,

A total of 56 bridges will undergo rehabilitation. Because C.A. Hall is a subcontractor for all bridge work on both contracts and since there is a lot of bridge work in the west contract, Hall is doing considerable work on both.

particularly concerning the bridge work. A total of 56 bridges will undergo rehabilitation. Because C.A. Hall is a subcontractor for all bridge work on both contracts and since there’ a lot of bridge work in the west contract, Hall is doing considerable work on both. “Because they’re a major sub, it leads to a lot of coordination. Hall is at all the meetings for the Dan’s contract.” According to Daavettila, the two big contracts consist of a two-year project for $47 million to reconstruct pavement from Novi to Farmington Hills — the west project — and a

Business Calendar ........32 Truck & Trailer Section .... .................................. 35-42 Crushing, Screening & Recycling Section ....55-62 Parts Section ................63 Auction Section ......68-74 Advertisers Index ..........75

$14 million contract to conduct bridge rehabilitation and concrete patching on I-696 — the east project. The west contract involves significant amounts of overlay but there is none on the east contract. Instead, there is, as Daavettila says, “a lot of concrete patching.” Other Names for an Old-Time Trail Before being designated as a military highway in 1832, the corridor from Lake Michigan through Detroit, Lansing and Grand Rapids was see MICHIGAN page 44

Constructing a Healthy Look at Health Care Reform By Giles Lambertson CEG CORRESPONDENT

reform model in which government would provide most health care services would dramatically change the way every business operates, large or small. It is impractical to hope that health care reform will be tailored to the construction industry. Nevertheless, small businesses consistently favor certain reform initiatives over others. Were Washington to institute reform along the lines general contractors might lay down, the following features would be among the legislated changes: • New authority for associations to negotiate insurance packages

Officials with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) believe that a large rock slide blocking both directions of Interstate 40 just east of the Tennessee line could take as long as six months to clear. The slide happened in the early morning hours of Oct. 25 at mile marker 2.6 in a rugged mountainous area of Haywood County. As a result, one of the Southeast’s major thoroughfares is closed from Exit 20 in North Carolina west to Exit 451 in Tennessee, forcing a detour that will take motorists many miles out of their way. Several hours after the 200-ft.-wide (60.9 m) landslide occurred, NCDOT had rushed a crew on site to assess the situation and begin a preliminary cleanup. Initially, it was see LANDSLIDE page 26 AP Photo/Bill Sanders, Asheville Citizen-Times

Iron Caravan Urges D.C. Action on Highway Funds

see REFORM page 51

Digitall Editionss Available e at constructionequipmentguide.com

Table of Contents ............4 Business Calendar ........26 Truck & Trailer Section .... ..................................29-32 Crushing, Screening & Recycling Section ....37-45

A sea of 5,500 orange flags, each one representing 100 jobs already lost in the construction equipment industry.

Work begins on clearing a rock slide Oct. 27, 2009, on Interstate 40 in Haywood County, west of Asheville, N.C. Engineers plan to remove as much of the rock at the base of the slide as possible to allow room for material still clinging to the mountainside to be dislodged.

AGC: Stim Projects Add, Save Construction Jobs A $20.5 million stimulus-funded project to widen I-95 in Palm Bay, Fla., is helping Ranger Construction expand its payroll and retain dozens of employees facing layoffs, the Associated General Contractors of America announced Oct. 30. The association added that the Florida firm’s experiences, along with those of contractors across the country, underscore the economic benefits of investing in infrastructure and construction projects.

“For the dozens of men and women who will be working on this project, the stimulus means a good job, warm food and a comfortable home,” Bob Schafer, president of the Associated General Contractors’ Florida East Coast Chapter and vice president of Ranger Construction, said. “As far as this project is concerned, the stimulus is working as intended.” Schafer said the stimulus-funded project couldn’t have come at a

Roadbuilders LLC of Laurel under the direction of Pepper Beckman. Work began in July, and the expected completion date was set at Nov. 30. The project was made possible through federal funds as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known

NEW ORLEANS (AP) The U.S. federal government could be vulnerable to billions of dollars in claims after a judge ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers’ failure to properly maintain a navigation channel led to massive flooding in Hurricane Katrina. U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval on Nov. 18 awarded seven plaintiffs $720,000, but the government could eventually be forced to pay much more. The ruling should give more than 100,000 other individuals, businesses and government entities a better shot at claiming damages. Duval sided with six residents and one business who argued the Army Corps’ shoddy oversight of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet led to the flooding of New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward and neighboring St. Bernard Parish. He said, however, the corps couldn’t be held liable for the flooding of eastern New Orleans, where two of the plaintiffs lived. The ruling also is emotionally resonant for south Louisiana. Many in New Orleans have argued that the flooding in the aftermath of

see MDOT page 62

see KATRINA page 18

The paver foreman and screed operator adjusting the controls of screed to keep the width uniform and depth of the asphalt consistent.

MDOT Puts Stimulus Funds to Work Resurfacing U.S. 49 By Brenda Ruggiero CEG CORRESPONDENT

Table of Contents ............4

The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) is currently supervising the resurfacing of 5.3 mi. (8.5 km) of U.S. 49 in Hattiesburg. The contract for the $8.3 million project was handled by Dunn

Motorgrader Section .......... ..................................37-39

Apprenticeships Eye Creating Lifetime Craftspeople

Parts Section............46-47 Auction Section ......58-67 Advertisers Index ..........66

A large caravan of bulldozers and other construction equipment displaying huge banners paraded through the streets of Washington Oct. 28 to send a message to lawmakers that they must act now to stop the bleeding in the construc-

tion equipment industry. Start Us Up USA! campaign organizers joined by House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., and other allies, also staged a rally see RALLY page 48

see STIMULUS page 47

Digital Editions Available @ www.constructionequipmentguide.com

Paving Section..........43-56 Parts Section ............58-59 Auction Section..66, 73-79 Business Calendar..........68 Advertisers Index ..........78

By Giles Lambertson CEG CORRESPONDENT

A dynamic apprenticeship program will not by itself save the U.S. construction industry from a looming shortage of skilled labor, but it is “one of the pieces of the puzzle” to stabilizing the labor situation, say industry leaders. Unions, contractors and associations operate apprenticeship programs mostly to teach trade skills. However, they also hope the programs will swell the ranks of craftspeople and retain

their workplace allegiance for a lifetime. The ultimate goal of every apprenticeship program sponsor in the country is to boost both the quality and quantity of trained construction laborers. How they pursue this common objective differs in a variety of ways. To produce skilled workers in such fields as carpentry, cement masonry and construction laborer, contractors in the Master Builders’ Association of Western Pennsylvania mostly work through trade unions. It is an association that goes back a long ways: the Master Builders’

Association — a founding member of Associated General Contractors — and the carpenters union both date from the 1880s. The success of apprenticeship programs in Pittsburgh is evident in the new $13 million training center of the Carpenters Joint Apprenticeship and Training Program. Ground was broken a year ago for the center, which sits adjacent to the carpenters’ headquarters. The 93,000-sq-ft. facility is state of the art, according to Jon O’Brien, MBA’s director of communicasee APPRENTICE page 31