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September 25 2010 Vol. VI • No. 20
“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
Alaska’s Ketchikan Viaduct Gets Facelift By Rebecca Ragain
CEG CORRESPONDENT
Scott-Macon Opens Houston Service Center...8
Terex CEO Visits Oklahoma City Facility...10
Bejac Now Sennebogen Dealer in Calif. ...11
Table of Contents ........4 Mini & Compact Equipment Section…17-23 Paving Section ......33-40 Business Calendar......45 Auction Section ....45-51 Advertisers Index ......50
Tourists visiting Alaska know the town of Ketchikan as one of the first northbound stops along the Inside Passage cruise route. Ketchikan is also the transportation hub and government center for the southern part of the Alaska Panhandle. Whereas the must-see area for out-of-town visitors is historic Creek Street, where old wooden shops overlook the salmon-laden creek, locals spend much of their time traveling the main traffic corridor through town, Tongass Avenue, which becomes Tongass Highway to the north and south. The Tongass Avenue Viaduct, constructed in the 1950s, is in the midst of receiving muchneeded improvements. In February, contractor SECON began the second phase of work to rehabilitate approximately 1,000 ft. (305 m), 23 spans, of the viaduct, which sees average daily traffic of 17,700 vehicles. The scope of the $7.5-million, federallyfunded project involves repairing and rehabilitating spalled and delaminated concrete on both the superstructure and substructure of the viaduct. In addition, long-term corrosion prevention will be installed in the form of cathodic protection systems, including metalized zinc on the
After concrete repair areas are identified and prepared for patching, workers pump grout into the formwork underneath the bridge deck as the final repair. Grout is pumped into the forms until the grout is forced up and through the drilled vent holes located on the bridge surface. After the grout has cured for three days, the patch is sounded for delaminated concrete and air voids.
underside of deck panels and deck beams, prefabricated zinc jacket systems on existing piles and selected pile caps, and zinc ingot anodes on piles below the tidewater level. “There are many areas of delaminated concrete and corrosion of the reinforcing steel in the substructure and bridge deck that require reconstruction and repair to avoid load limiting of the structure,” said Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities Chief Communications Officer, Roger Wetherell, in
an email. According to Wetherell, major equipment used for this project consists of the work platform and enclosure, negative air and heating see VIADUCTpage 8
Spending and Its Effect on Proposed Interstate Highway Construction Would Link Cities in Western U.S.
By Giles Lambertson
PHOENIX (AP) It may not be a reality for many years, if ever. But the idea of building a new interstate highway to span some of the West’s wide open spaces appears to be gaining some traction, at least in the region. Interstate 11, a designation suggested by supporters of the proposed new route, would link the Phoenix area in south-central Arizona with Las Vegas in southern Nevada. And more ambitiously, it could extend southward to the Arizona U.S.-Mexico bor-
An enduring story of the current recession has been the nation’s construction swoon, which has industry leaders and government officials alike in a daze about how to correct a grievous loss of construction jobs. With the industry’s jobless rate hovering around 17 percent and no instrument in sight to lower it, it’s little wonder that two-thirds of surveyed industry leaders believe the dilemma will continue at least another year.
der and north through Nevada into Oregon to connect with existing routes to Portland and Seattle. Much of it would involve improvements to existing highways such as U.S. Highway 93 between Kingman, Ariz. and Las Vegas, but significant new construction also would be required. The idea has been battered around for years but recently is drawing more interest, particusee HIGHWAY page 6
CEG CORRESPONDENT
see SPENDING page 16