In the News

Report: Road condition improves but traffic congestion, highway fatalities rise

Nearly 52 percent of U.S. urban Interstates are now congested and traffic fatality rates rose slightly, but road surface conditions and bridge conditions improved, according to the Reason Foundation's latest annual highway performance report. "Gridlock isn't going away," said David T. Hartgen, Ph.D., the study's lead author. "States are going to have to prioritize and direct their transportation money to projects specifically designed to reduce congestion if we are going to reverse this troubling trend."  Full Story

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Missouri, Kansas fare well in highway studies

Missouri and Kansas highways scored well in two new studies that examined road conditions, congestion, traffic safety and funding. Missouri, taking big strides to improve its national image, received higher marks for the condition of its roads. About 74 percent of Missouri's major highways were in good condition last year, up from 45 percent in 2003, according to a TRIP study. Kansas, meanwhile, ranked third in the country in overall cost-effectiveness for 2005, according to a controversial study released by the Reason Foundation, a libertarian research group.  Full Story

U.S. Supreme Court blocks expansion of Endangered Species Act

On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that would have injected another layer of bureaucracy and delay into the transportation planning process. The decision prevents the Endangered Species Act (ESA) from being elevated to the nation’s preeminent environmental standard.  Full Story

China to build road to foot of Mt. Everest

China will build a road to the foot of Mt. Everest to make it easier for the Olympic torch relay to reach the summit, state-run media reported. The new road will replace tracks leading to Everest base camp and cost nearly $20 million to build.  Full Story

As Hampton Roads shed layers of clothing in the 93-degree heat, workers suspended below the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel wrapped fiberglass jackets around the road's supports. The outfit is one of several techniques meant to repair 623 cracked and corroded piles, made of concrete and steel reinforcement, damaged by ships and salty water.  Full Story

Alaskan bridge builders hurry between the fish

It's already mid-June and fewer than half of the supports for the new 110-meter (363-foot) Nares River (Natasaheeni River) footbridge are in place. The waterwork had to wait until the Arctic grayling emerged in the early spring. The most disruptive in-stream steps are mandated to happen in the dead-zone until the end of June. After that, the construction company needs to meet another ecologically induced deadline: the bulk of the lake trout migration. The crew is working seven days a week to meet the deadline.  Full Story

Germany, Denmark agree to build 11.4-mile bridge across Fehmarn Strait

Denmark and Germany have reached an agreement to build a bridge across the Fehmarn Strait in the western Baltic Sea, the Ministry of Transport and Energy said. Construction of the bridge is expected to start in 2011 and be completed in 2018. The 19-kilometer (11.4 mile) bridge will be owned and financed by Denmark, and paid for by tolls from users on the direct route from Hamburg to Copenhagen.  FullStory

Birds' nests cause delay in Wisconsin bridge construction

A handful of swallow nests might hold up construction work on a Shawano County bridge indefinitely. Work on the Tigerton bridge was scheduled to begin June 25. But on June 22, the contractor found a number of nests on the structure's underside, causing a delay until state officials could decide how to work around the federally protected nests. Officials didn't expect to find nests because county workers had installed nets in early April to prevent birds from nesting there.  Full Story

Longest sea-spanning bridge linked in China

Pieces of a 22-mile-long bridge, which builders say is the world's longest sea-crossing structure, were linked June 26 just south of the business hub of Shanghai. The bridge connects Shanghai with the industrial city of Ningbo and spans Hangzhou Bay, cutting the distance between the cities from about 250 miles to 50 miles. Costing $1.54 billion, the structure will open to traffic next year after completion of the six-lane roadway.  Full Story

New milestone for record-breaking Chinese bridge

The main span of the Sutong Bridge across the Yangtze River was completed June 18. With a span of 1,088 meters (3,590 feet), Sutong takes over from Japan's 890-meter (2,937-foot) Tatara Bridge as the world's longest cable-stayed bridge. It also holds a number of lesser records. The 6.45-billion-yuan ($845 million) bridge, which links Suzhou and Nantong, two of the main cities in Jiangsu  Province, is expected to have a far-reaching economic impact on the affluent region.  Full Story

Legal problems won't affect Hoover Dam bridge project, U.S. official says

Work on the Hoover Dam bypass bridge shouldn't be slowed by legal woes facing the parent company of a major bridge contractor, a federal official said. The parent firm, Tokyo-based Obayashi Corp., is undergoing a management shake-up after an inquiry into alleged bid-rigging on a subway project and a waste disposal plant in Japan that has led to the arrests of several company associates.  Full Story

Drought helping massive West Virginia highways project

The drought has been painful for West Virginia farmers, but the rainless weather is perfect for state highway officials working on the new U.S. 35. "This spring has been great so far," said Bill Kelley, District 1 construction engineer with the state Division of Highways.

Thanks in part to almost constantly dry skies, work on the stretch from the Crooked Creek interchange to W.Va. 34 is ahead of schedule.  Full Story

Indiana lawmakers at odds over toll road

It's been a year since Indiana leased a major toll road to a private enterprise - but it might take another 10 to decide if it was a sound investment. The state declined to raise taxes or sell bonds to fund major road improvements. Instead, the General Assembly narrowly voted to lease the Indiana Toll Road to a private consortium for $3.8 billion. The private consortium leasing the road will collect all toll revenue for 75 years. The wisdom of the decision is still being debated in Indiana.  Full Story

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Funding

Washington state gas tax creeps up

Washington state's gas tax goes up two more cents per gallon in July. It's the third annual increase in a row, pushing the state gas tax to 36 cents a gallon, fifth highest in the country. Another 1.5-cent increment will be added next year. The feds add another 18.4 cents a gallon. The four-step gas tax hike accounts for the lion's share of a revenue package lawmakers approved in 2005 to generate $8.5 billion to help pay for a highway construction boom over the next 16 years. The revenue is largely used to pay off construction bonds.  Full Story

Nebraska gas tax drops slightly

Nebraska's fuel tax dropped by one-tenth of 1 cent on July 1 - to 27 cents per gallon. The fuel tax can change every six months based on a formula that calculates the amount of money the state must collect to meet the road budget set by the legislature. Through a veto, the governor removed money from the future road budget to assure the gas tax will likely remain around 27 cents. Full Story

Pennsylvania governor praises House for moving state closer to transportation crisis solution

Governor Edward Rendell praised the House of Representatives for advancing compromise legislation to address Pennsylvania’s transportation crisis. The chamber voted to approve an amendment to House Bill 1590 that would create a public-public partnership between the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and PennDOT to provide funding for bridge and road repair and public transit systems.  Full Story

North Carolina roadwork construction off by 50% since '04

Years of state budget cuts and a slowing residential real-estate market have conspired to put the squeeze on Greensboro/Winston-Salem transportation contractors. Since 2004, statewide spending on transportation infrastructure is off by nearly 50 percent, to $726 million in calendar year 2006, according to figures supplied by the N.C. Department of Transportation.  Full Story

Canadian Prime Minister announces roads deal in Eastern Canada

Prime Minister Stephen Harper used a road-funding announcement in New Brunswick to highlight how a cooperative approach with Ottawa can benefit the provinces. Harper, who is locked in a battle with Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador over changes to equalization funding, said the highway improvements show how federalism can work. The Conservative governments of Premier Rodney MacDonald of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador's Danny Williams complain that the latest federal budget forces them to choose between an existing agreement on offshore energy revenues or a new equalization formula.  Full Story

Cash woes wipe out 250 Georgia road projects

The transportation funding crunch has found its mark - 250 of them. And that's just for starters. From maintaining pavement on northern Ga. 400 to fixing bridges on I-85 and Old Roswell Road, from sealing bridges on I-285 in DeKalb County to lighted warning signs for sharp curves at I-85 and Lawrenceville Highway, about 250 projects in metro Atlanta and across the state got the ax at the Georgia Department of Transportation, at least for this fiscal year. Unlike 510 projects that DOT recently took off its six-year plan, these 250 projects were all ready to go to contract, DOT officials said, lacking only one thing: money.  Full Story

More funding sources needed for Missouri highway work

Funding to repair Missouri highways will shrink because a big chunk of transportation revenue has been dedicated to paying off bonds. Missouri is in the midst of a big surge in highway construction spending that will do much to improve the state's road system. But, by 2010, the money available for new projects will shrink from more than $1.2 billion this year to $570 million. Why? A big chunk of the state's transportation revenue has been dedicated to paying off bonds. The bond proceeds are now being spent. When that money runs out, there will be less available for new work.  Full Story

Utah road work is prioritized

Utah's Transportation Commission spent four hours on June 19 prioritizing a list of road projects that could receive millions in funding to be built. The commission was scheduled to approve the $1 billion in projects on June 20. On the list are 20 projects that would widen or construct new highways in urban areas of the state, improve intersections and widen or add passing lanes on three rural highways, and build new interchanges on I-15.  Full Story

Fund shortage may cause closure of forest roads

The Gifford Pinchot National Forest (Washington), facing a $40 million road maintenance backlog, is proposing to close 25 miles of forest roads northeast of the Pine Creek information station. "Unfortunately, the Forest Service does not have enough funding to maintain existing roads," said Amy Lieb, project leader for the Mount St. Helens ranger district. "The lower-level roads are not maintained." With federal timber harvesting down to a fraction of the logging heyday in the 1980s, the Forest Service lacks money to maintain a legacy of old logging roads.  Full Story

Asphalt costs put brakes on Pennsylvania road projects

Asphalt prices are so high that miles of neighborhood roads will be cut from paving projects, local and state officials say. In the last two years, there has been a 36 percent inflation rate for construction materials in the United States, said Valerie Peterson, spokeswoman for PennDOT District 12.  Full Story

Safety Issues

California engineer group not keen on outsourcing

In 1995, two Caltrans engineers decided on their own to check X-rays of welds from a seismic safety project on a San Diego freeway viaduct. The project had already passed the inspection of private contractors, but when the Caltrans engineers took a look, they found that half the welds were bad, requiring $5 million in corrective work. That's just one example of how private inspection work could have allowed disastrous defects on highway projects in California, according to a group that represents state-employed engineers. Now the group is charging that Caltrans could be headed for further trouble with the $5.6 billion new Bay Bridge project by contracting out inspection work.   Full Story

Deadliest highway nearly fixed; Twinning stretch of Trans-Canada compared to building railroad

It's a project that has being compared to the building of the railway in Canada - only it has taken roughly four times as long to complete. New Brunswick will finally have its portion of the Trans-Canada Highway completely twinned this year. Officials hope the new four-lane tarmac will end years of roadway carnage in the so-called drive-through province - the nickname vacationers have stuck the province with as they speed through to Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. Travelers will no longer have to drive a dangerous two-lane stretch of road through the province's lush St. John River valley after this summer.   Full Story

Innovations

Flotilla of giant cylinders will become anchors for Washington state's Hood Canal Bridge rebuild

Any kid who's ever plunged an empty bucket to the bottom of a swimming pool can understand the anchoring system at the Hood Canal Bridge. Ten concrete cylinders, with open tops, were built at a Seattle dry dock for a bridge retrofit by Kiewit-General and the state Department of Transportation. In late June, the dry dock was submerged at Todd Shipyards, releasing the thousand-ton anchors to float into Elliott Bay. When they are installed this summer, the cylinders will be filled with water and rock, sinking them to depths of up to 370 feet.   Full Story

Two British Highways Agency projects shortlisted for Prime Minister's Better Public Building Award

The £140 million project to widen the M60 between Junction 5 at Northenden and 8 at Stretford, Greater Manchester, was completed in June 2006 and was recently awarded the Civil Engineering Environmental award 2007 for its "above and beyond" efforts to take environmental issues into account. The innovative £3.8 million project to replace the A30 Dunheved Bridge over the River Tamar, between the Devon and Cornwall border, was completed in March 2007. It involved building the new decks on temporary supports and then sliding them into place once the old deck had been demolished, while keeping A30 traffic moving.  Full Story

Calendar

Understanding and using economic and market data

Practical Application of PCA Economic and Forecast & Market Assessments is a new Portland Cement Association seminar that allows marketing and corporate planning  professionals to fully understand and use PCA market and economic  data. Attendees will gain insight into how PCA creates the projections and  the risks and turning points contained in each economic forecast. The seminar will show how market professionals can monitor macroeconomic indicators to determine if PCA projections are on track. In addition to valuable insight regarding PCA projects, attendees will receive several PCA Economic Research publications, including the 2006  Annual Yearbook. August 7-8, 2007. Online registration at http://www.cement.org/learn . Cost: $295 members/$895 non-members.

07/09/2007 - 07/13/2007 — Boston, MA - Highway Capacity Workshop, Northwestern University Center for Public Safety (NUCPS)

07/13/2007 - 07/17/2007 — Richmond, VA - National Association of Counties (NACO)

07/20/2007 - 07/22/2007 — Colchester, CT - 2007 International Convention and Old Equipment Expo

09/09/2007 - 09/12/2007 — San Antonio, TX - International Public Works Congress and Expo (APWA)

For our full events calendar, go to http://www.betterroads.com/calendar

Economic Indicators

Construction Spending

Total construction activity for May 2007 ($1,176.6 billion) was 0.9 percent above the revised April 2007 ($1,166.0 billion). For further details: http://www.census.gov/constructionspending . 6/29/07

Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders

New orders for manufactured durable goods in May decreased $6.1 billion or 2.8 percent to $213.0 billion. 6/27/07

New Home Sales

Sales of new one-family houses in May 2007 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 915,000. This is 1.6% below the revised April 2007 figure of 930,000. 6/26/07

Housing Starts/Building Permits

Privately-owned housing starts in May 2007 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,474,000. This is 2.1 percent below the revised April 2007 estimate of 1,506,000. 6/19/07

U.S. Economy at a glance: http://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.us.htm

Compiled by Larry Green, news editor, Better Roads.  To contact Larry about the newsletter content, send e-mail to .

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