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July 17 2010 Vol. VI • No. 15
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Inside
Helena Roadway Project Gets Good Start By Rebecca Ragain CEG CORRESPONDENT
Powerscreen Bigger, Better at Hillhead 2010...16
Just a few months ago, Jason Fenhaus walked up and down Cedar Street in Helena, Mont., visiting the businesses that would be affected by the roadway improvement contract awarded to his employer, Helena Sand & Gravel. The $2.3-million project widens Cedar Street from Montana Avenue to Interstate 15, increasing the roadway from three lanes to five. It is the first phase of the three-part Custer Interchange project, originally recommended by city and county officials more than seven years ago to address increasing traffic volumes on 40-year-old local routes. “Although the [Cedar Street] job is only 3,000 feet long, it’s through a pretty major business corridor so dealing with traffic and business access is pretty crucial,” says Fenhaus, who planned his spring walk-through in order to open lines of communication with business owners from the get-go.
Ditch Witch Goes on ‘Texas Tour’...24
see HELENA page 8
Currently, the Custer Avenue/I-15 overpass is just two lanes. A new, fiveramp interchange will be built as part of the $20-plus-million Custer Interchange phase.
Appeal Halts Gold Ray Economy Showing Dam Removal in Oregon Mixed Indicators By Mark Freeman MAIL TRIBUNE
Sales Strong For WCA Event...40
Table of Contents ............4 Crushing, Screening & Recycling Section ....13-20 Truck & Trailer Section .... ........................................25 Business Calendar ........34 Auction Section........37-43 Advertisers Index ..........42
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) Work to demolish Gold Ray Dam could be delayed a month or more as Jackson County grapples with a group of dam supporters over whether removing the 106-year-old structure would illegally alter the Rogue River’s floodplain or violate county land-use rules. The state Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) on June 25 ordered demolition work halted at the dam while it looks into an appeal by opponents who argued that the county violated its own land-use rules by proceeding with the project without properly considering land-use implications. In that case, the county has argued that no rules were violated and that LUBA has no jurisdiction over Gold Ray Dam’s fate, in part because county commissioners acted as a landowner in this case and not as a regulator of
land-use rules. Opponents of the dam’s removal also have appealed the county’s issuance of a county permit that declares removing the dam would not alter the Rogue’s floodplain. The flood-plain appeal will require a hearings officer to conduct a hearing on the matter, which could take until the end of July to settle, said John Vial, the county’s roads and parks director, who is spearheading the $5.6 million dam-removal project. Vial said demolition would not begin until the hearings process plays out, leaving crews idle. “There will be a time period when we’ll basically have to shut the project down,” Vial said. “We feel very confident we’ll prevail, but we need to slow down until then.” The appeals were filed by a collection of landowners who maintain that removing the dam would illegally destroy wetlands and habitat used by see DAM page 10
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 12