Southeast_14_2010

Page 1

Published Nationally ®

Southeast Edition

July 14 2010

$3.00

Vol. XXIII • No. 14

“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

Buccaneer State Park: Coming Alive Again By Lori Lovely CEG CORRESPONDENT

Thompson Holds Waste Equipment Demo Day…8

Nestled by the beach near Waveland, Miss., Buccaneer State Park has provided a picturesque backdrop for nature lovers, campers, pirates and soldiers since the 1700s, when Jean Lafitte inhabited the old Pirate House located a short distance from what is now parkland. Named for the pirates, such as the French buccaneer Lafitte and his followers, who were active in smuggling and pirating along the coast and used the area as a haven, the site was graced with large moss-draped live oaks, pine trees and marshlands in a scenic idyll along the Gulf of Mexico. Known for a time as Jackson’s Ridge, the area also was used as a base of military operations by Andrew Jackson during the battle of New Orleans. Jackson returned to this area and built a house on land that is now part of the park. Pirates Lagoon Wave Pool, the 460,000-gal. wave action pool — Mississippi’s The state acquired the property in 1972, converting it into first — is undergoing massive reconstruction. The original wave pool equipment survived the storm but was damaged and flooded.

Case to ‘Rock the Troops’…16

Gov. Strips Eight Items Economy Showing From Proposed Budget Mixed Indicators By Melinda Deslatte ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Work Begins on U.S. 41/SR45 in Fla. …27

Table of Contents ........4 Paving Section ......31-44 Attachments Section...... ..............................49-61 Parts Section ........62-63 Auction Section ......83-91

Business Calendar......87 Advertisers Index ......90

see BUCCANEER page 24

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) Gov. Bobby Jindal cut $9.4 million in projects that lawmakers added to the state’s annual construction budget bill, with a series of line-item vetoes July 2. Among the eight items scrapped by Jindal were a drainage project in Jefferson Parish, a courthouse annex in Webster Parish, a sidewalk improvement in Pineville, wastewater collection improvements in Sibley and a restoration project at the Southern Forest Heritage Museum. Several of the projects removed by the governor are in or near the districts of lawmakers who fought the Jindal administration on various issues during the recently ended legislative session.

That mirrors his action on another state budget bill, in which the governor’s vetoes heavily hit earmarks from lawmakers who crossed his administration this session. Also stripped from the construction budget was $5 million for planning and study of a proposed interstate loop around the Baton Rouge area. The project had divided the regional delegation and prompted angry debate during the session. In his veto message for the loop, Jindal cited the lack of agreement from local lawmakers. “Without the consensus of the public and the legislative delegation, the success of the project is in question. It would therefore be premature to fund the planning of such a large and controsee JINDAL page 22

By Pete Sigmund CEG EDITORIAL CONSULTANT

The construction industry is moving ahead, albeit painfully, through a slow recovery from the Great Recession, according to leading economists, whose observations and suggestions offer insights for the Obama Administration, Congress, and contractors. The mid-year outlook for construction for the last six months of 2010 includes both hopeful and worrisome signals. Gritting their teeth in the face of discouraging reports for May, industry sources voice basic optimism about a stronger recovery in construction and the general economy. Their responses in interviews by Construction Equipment Guide (CEG) include a prediction that single family housing starts — an important leading indicator for the national economy — will rebound to an annualized rate of 580,000 this year and then almost double in 2011. The economists laud federal stimulus funding for having averted what one said “could have been a real disaster” in the see FORECAST page 20


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