PCL Civil Constructors made extensive preparations as Hurricane Matthew approached to secure the jobsite and equipment of its project to replace the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge on the coast of North Carolina. And yet, as the storm pulled away, two 140-ft-long barges were found beached, almost 30 miles away. An NCDOT engineer provides details.
Hurricane Matthew’s rampage through the Caribbean, the Bahamas and up the southeast U.S. coast tested storm and flood forecasters, utilities, contractor preparations and civil engineering works for more than 1,500 miles and, in some cases, found them wanting.
After a three-month funding dispute that halted thousands of state projects, New Jersey politicians agreed to a new 23¢-per-gal gas tax to restart work. Coming the day after the rail crash in Hoboken, the deal has raised some question on infrastructure investment.
As Hurricane Matthew’s curious, inverted question mark-shaped forecast tracks keep weather experts guessing, transportation agencies in the Southeast are taking no chances.
Though it may be another year before the full effects of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act are felt nationwide, the $305-billion funding measure enacted in December 2015 already has provided many of the sector’s contractors with something they have not experienced in quite a while: a sense of stability.
“Staying within the headlights” is how Vann Cleveland, vice president at specialty contractor Cleveland Electric Co., describes the family-owned company’s vigilance against overextending its capabilities in the vigorous Georgia construction market.