Published Nationally ®
Southeast Edition
May 5 2010
$3.00
Vol. XXIII • 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
Rounding Off SR 840 Circle Around Nashville By Lori Lovely
Photo courtesy of Gresham Smith and Partners
CEG CORRESPONDENT
Nortrax Hosts Dig, Dine and Drive…8
Ash Cloud Aside, Bauma 2010 Draws Well…22
Usually, the motoring public, tired of delays and detours, is anxious for disruptive road construction projects to be completed. But on the SR 840 project around Nashville, Tenn., it’s hard to imagine any motorist as eager to see the end as the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and the contractors working on the project. It’s been a long time coming. Planning for the project began back in 1986, as part of the state’s Better Roads Program to provide economic growth by improving access to communities in central Tennessee. However, work came to a halt in 2003 due to environmental issues and didn’t resume for several years. When completed, this brand new four-
Bridge work in Williamson County, Tenn., is part of section four of the project.
see NASHVILLE page 28
Thompson Tractor’s Steve Parish Retires…44
Building With Imminent $1B Ala. Roads Earthquakes on Horizon Plan Approved by Legislature By Giles Lambertson CEG CORRESPONDENT
Table of Contents ............4 Truck & Trailer Section .... ..................................25-27 Crushing, Screening & Recycling Section ....33-42 Parts Section ................43 Auction Section ......50-59 Business Calendar ........54 Advertisers Index ..........58
With earthquakes rumbling in places like Haiti, Chile, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and, ominously, the Mexican peninsula right below California, Americans surely wonder when The Big One will strike the United States. The good news is that seismic engineers, architects and contractors are preparing for that day by building structures that will withstand the shaking. Yet it is a work in progress. “All major buildings being designed in the United States are designed for earthquake resistance,” see QUAKE page 14
By Phillip Rawls ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Shown here are steel self-centering moment resisting frame (SC-MRFs) tests and steel self-centering concentrically braced frame (SC-CBF) tests performed at Lehigh’s NEES Equipment Site. These systems are new concepts developed at Lehigh University for new construction as well as for seismic retrofit.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) The Alabama Legislature has approved a $1 billion compromise that would start the largest road building program in state history and create construction jobs during the recession. The Senate approved the compromise 25-8 April 21 and the House agreed 86-13 the same night. The spending plan won’t take effect unless passed by Alabama voters in a statewide referendum on the general election ballot Nov. 2. That’s when legislators also will be standing for election. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, is see ROADS page 12