Featured Products August 2009 Commercial CNG Mixer McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing, an Oshkosh Corp. company based in Minnesota, recently unveiled its fi rst commercially manufactured compressed-natural gas concrete mixer. The McNeilus CNG-powered mixer meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2010 heavy-duty engine emission standards for nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, offering clean-fuel technology to the heavy-duty truck market. When compared to their diesel engine counterparts, CNG-powered mixers offer lower fuel costs and reduced noise pollution. They are six times cleaner, making them more economical to run and more environmentally friendly than diesel-powered mixers. The company has applied for a grant with
Featured Product July 2009 Bobcat's New Excavator Line The new M-Series compact excavators bring additional power in a smaller machine. The new E32 is a tailswing excavator with a redesigned house for less overhang, while the E35 is a zero-tailswing excavator able to operate in confined spaces. Both excavators are in the 3 to 4-ton weight class and have an arm breakout force 10% greater than on previous models. The Auto-Shift travel feature shifts the machine out of high range and back automatically, providing extra power when pushing into piles. A load-sensing piston pump and closed center-valve grant the excavators smoother
Despite the economic challenges that 2009 presents, the design-build project delivery method is on track to meet and best serve customers and their projects more than any other project delivery method in the construction marketplace. BLOXEM President Obama’s economic stimulus plan offers significant funding for new vertical and horizontal design and construction projects throughout Texas. The bill contains about $140 billion in construction spending nationwide, according to the Southwest. AGC of America. How is design-build uniquely qualified for the stimulus bill spending requirements? National research and past experience proves design-build will put these projects out faster and leaner than other
While students' lives are different from soldiers' lives, they are similarly housed. On campuses and military bases, students and soldiers live in close, shared quarters. They share the desire to be comfortable in their "home away from home." Campuses might look to the military�s use of modular building. At Fort Bliss, El Paso, Warrior set 500,000 sq ft of housing for troops in a six-month period. Dorms and barracks are both constructed using repetitive design layouts to create a uniform appearance inside the building. They must both meet strict safety requirements and are required to be produced quickly compared to
Photo: NorthGate Constructors The $1.02-billion DFW Connector project, designed to relieve congestion and double traffic capacity on 8.4 mi of state highways 121 and 114, gets under way in earnest Feb. 15. “Work zone” signs are already posted and some speed limits reduced on the corridor through Southlake, Grapevine and the north edge of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, where roads will be rebuilt and expanded, ultimately doubling capacity from 12 to 24 lanes. NorthGate Constructors, a joint venture led by Kiewit Texas Construction, Fort Worth, and Zachry Construction, San Antonio, won the contract last year from the Texas Dept.
Photo courtesy DFWfreeways.info In an unusual move in the highly commercialized sports market, the city council of Irving, Texas, voted on Dec. 31 to award naming rights to the demolition of Texas Stadium to Kraft Foods Global. The city council says the partnership, nicknamed “The Cheddar Explosion,” will yield $1 million in promotional value for the city. Kraft agreed to pay $75,000 for the naming rights and provide an additional $75,000 in products to local food banks. Weir Bros. Inc., a Dallas-based contractor, received a notice to proceed on the demolition project on Oct. 20, 2009. The implosion of the