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Published Nationally ®
Western Edition
July 30 2011 Vol. VII • No. 16
“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
Shale Drilling Creates Natural Gas Supply Boom
A view of Keystone Ave. I-80 eastbound on-ramp, which will be widened as part of the design-build project.
Gerber Joines LBX as GM of International Business... 12
Overhaul Continues on Bay Bridge...19
I-80 in Northern Nevada Gets Design-Build Project By Erik Pisor CEG CORRESPONDENT
Astec Builds, Ships Plant to Hawaii...35
After completing its first design-build project a year ahead of schedule, the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) is underway on a $72 million job in Reno-Sparks that also utilizes the design-build project delivery method.
“It’s the first design-build project that the department has taken on in Northern Nevada, the other one was in Las Vegas,” said Meg Ragonese, NDOT public information officer, adding the project is the first in the state that involves the installation of freeway ramp meters that regulate the flow of oncoming freeway traffic. see REDESIGN page 10
A retention pond takes shape at a well site.
By Giles Lambertson CEG CORRESPONDENT
The New York town of Marcellus was named for a Roman general, not for the town’s outcropping of natural gas-bearing shale. These days, excited general contractors or construction equipment dealers don’t give a hang about the general. He never sparked a construction boom. The shale did. Running southwest from Marcellus, the thick layer of Devonian black shale takes the Marcellus name and dives deep under Pennsylvania and adjacent states. Oil companies using 21st-century technology have begun to DRILLING see page 34
Table of Contents ..............4
Construction Spending Declines in May
Backhoes and Attachments Section ........................15-18
By Derek Kravitz
Paving Section ............35-41
WASHINGTON (AP) Builders began work on fewer projects in May, led by steep declines in apartment construction and less spending by state and local governments. Construction spending declined 0.6 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $757.9 billion, the Commerce Department said July 1. That put overall spending barely above
Auction Section ..........44-51 Business Calendar............45 Advertisers Index ............50
AP REAL ESTATE WRITER
an 11-year low hit in February. And it is roughly half the $1.5 trillion pace considered healthy by most economists. Analysts say it could be another four years before construction returns to healthier levels. The weak construction spending data showed Americans are reluctant to both build and buy. Home construction fell 2.1 percent. But much of the decline was because an equal decline in apartment building, which can be volatile from month to month. Construction of
single-family homes dropped 0.3 percent. Spending on government projects fell for the eighth consecutive month. The 0.8 percent in May dropped government construction spending to a seasonally adjusted $276 billion annual rate, the weakest pace since February 2007. State and local governments accounted for all of the declines in government spending. They have been cutting back on building projects as they deal with large budget deficits. see SPENDING page 30