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Midwest Edition
May 14 2011 Vol. XVIII • No. 10
“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
Columbus Equipment Hos ts Open House...18
IAA P Holds 43rd Annual Convention...28
Far m- Rit e Equipmen t Hol ds Open House ... 36
Table of Contents ............4 Wheel Loaders, Tool Carriers & Attachments Section ......................40-51
$900M Construction Program Set for Minn. The Minnesota Department of Transportation recently announced a near $900 million transportation construction program for 2011 that will increase safety, improve mobility, expand capacity and preserve infrastructure statewide. “Minnesota’s transportation system is a vital part of the state’s infrastructure and is essential for a strong and vibrant state economy,” said Governor Mark Dayton. “These projects will support thousands of jobs in Minnesota, from the construction workers directly working on the projects to others who work in the support industries for construction.” This year’s 258 state highway construction projects include the Highway 169/Interstate 494 interchange in the Twin Cities Photo courtesy of Minnesota Department of Transportation. and the second year of the The $120M Hastings Bridge project is just one of the nearly $900M in construction improvement projects bridge and pavement replace- given the green light by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. ment on a section of I-35 in “Mn/DOT is focused on improving our roads Minnesotans’ quality of life,” said MnDOT Duluth. Other projects improve safety at railroad crossings, repair seawalls and docks, make and bridges and maximizing the capacity of our Commissioner Tom Sorel. improvements on runways and terminals at multimodal transportation system to give the see PROJECTS page 54 regional airports, and remodel a transit facility. traveling public more options and improve
Caterpillar’s 1Q Profit New-Home Construction Soars, Ups Forecast Rises 7.2 Percent in March By Derek Kravitz
By Christopher Leonard
Paving Section ........71-82
AP BUSINESS WRITER
Parts Section ............84-85
ST. LOUIS (AP) Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. said April 29 its first-quarter profit soared more than five-fold and raised its financial outlook for the year as a growing economic recovery boosted demand for its mining and construction equipment.
Auction Section ....90-103 Business Calendar ......101 Advertisers Index ........102
The results blew past analysts’ expectations. Caterpillar’s earnings are a bellwether for the global economy, as it sells the kind of kind of expensive, heavy machinery used for construction, mining and logging. Its first-quarter profit reflects an industrial sector that is growing again, with most of its sales see PROFITS page 35
AP REAL ESTATE WRITER
WASHINGTON (AP) Builders broke ground on more new homes in March, giving the weak U.S. housing market a slight boost at the start of the spring buying season. Home construction rose 7.2 percent in March from February to a seasonally adjusted 549,000 units, the Commerce Department said April 19. Building permits, an indi-
cator of future construction, rose 11.2 percent after hitting a fivedecade low in February. Still, the building pace is far below the 1.2 million units a year that economists consider healthy. And March’s improvement came after construction fell in February to its second-lowest level on record dating back more than a half-century. Millions of foreclosures have see CONSTRUCTION page 35