August 18, 2015 – One month ago, an elevated section of Interstate 10 collapsed amid heavy rains in the California desert, injuring one driver, stranding many others and halting travel for thousands by cutting off both directions of the main corridor between Southern California and Arizona. Did you ever wonder how many more bridges out there are in line to fail?…
Read MoreAuthor: Mark Kuhar
MSHA Alert on Bins and Hoppers
August 10, 2015 – MSHA has issued a special alert on steel storage bins and hoppers. Steel storage bins can hold a large amount of material and if they fail, the consequences can be fatal, the agency said. From 2012 to 2014, there have been 5 reported failures in the U.S. mining industry. Bin failures are often preventable with periodic inspection and…
Read MoreJune Construction Starts Retreat 15 Percent
Highway and Bridge Construction Advances 16 Percent; First Six Months of 2015 Up 23 Percent. By Mark S. Kuhar
Read MoreA Productive Solution
NEW BIRMINGHAM INC.’S NEW EXCAVATOR HELPS INCREASE CYCLE TIMES AND PRODUCTION. By Mark S. Kuhar It’s a question that crosses every operations manager’s mind on a daily basis: How do we increase productivity and efficiency? For Rick Bailey, senior vice president of operations for New Birmingham Inc. (NBI), and his team, the answer is a Hitachi ZX670LC-5 Excavator. Decreased Cycle…
Read MoreSaving for the Future
LAKEVIEW SAND AND GRAVEL INVESTS IN TWO NEW LOADERS TO REDUCE OPERATING COSTS. By Mark S. Kuhar Determining how profitable a company can be is not always based on how much revenue it can make, but rather, how much a company can save at the same time. Matthew Willson (right), owner of Lakeview Sand and Gravel, has believed in this…
Read MoreWill It Take a Death to Get Congress to Act?
Since 2009, Congress has passed 34 short-term bills to fund transportation programs. This “kick-the-can-down-the-road” strategy seemed likely to end at press time, with news that the Senate was close to working out a deal on a six-year bill.
Read MoreRain, Rain, Go Away
August 4, 2015 – While parts of the West are suffering from historic drought conditions, other parts of the country experienced massive rainfall earlier this year. So much so, that the rainy conditions were mentioned in both the Vulcan Materials and Martin Marietta second-quarter reports. Ward Nye, chairman, president and CEO of Martin Marietta, said, “According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric…
Read MoreUsing Water And Air To Run Your Loader
By Mark S. Kuhar Is it possible to make synthetic diesel fuel using only water and air? Researchers at Audi not only think so, they are doing just that. While the technology has only been tested on automobiles, can front-end loaders and haul trucks be far behind? The German automaker announced it has created the first batch of liquid “e-diesel”…
Read MoreMay Construction Starts Increase 3 Percent
Residential Building Shows Modest Improvement In May; Highway And Bridge Construction Slips 1 Percent. By Mark S. Kuhar
Read MoreUSGS Report
Aggregates Production Increases in First Quarter. By Mark S. Kuhar
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