A new 50-state report reveals that state governments are losing out on more than $10 billion in transportation revenue every year, contributing to an estimated $130 billion drain on the economy that results from higher vehicle repair costs and travel time delays.

The report, from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), says state lawmakers reluctant to update gas taxes have cost their states, on average, $201 million in annual revenues. It also shows that the average state has not increased its gas tax rate in over a decade, and 14 states have gone 20 years or longer without an increase. Adjusting for construction cost growth, the average state’s gasoline tax rate has effectively fallen by 20 percent, or 6.8 cents per gallon, since the last time it was raised, says the report. Diesel taxes have fallen by a similar 18 percent, or 6.0 cents per gallon.

“It’s basic math,” says ITEP Senior Analyst Carl Davis. “The road repairs you could buy in 1990 with 20 cents, for example, are going to cost 34 cents today. But we still see some states collecting the same flat 20-cent tax that they did back in 1990. That’s the definition of unsustainable.”

The report, Building a Better Gas Tax: How to fix one of state government’s least sustainable revenue sources, offers three policy recommendations for modernizing state gas taxes:

1. Increase gas tax rates to (at least) reverse their long-term declines.

2. Restructure state gas taxes so that their rates rise automatically alongside the inevitable growth in the cost of transportation construction projects.

3. Create or enhance targeted tax credits for low-income families to offset the impact of gas tax reform.

Find the full report at http://www.itepnet.org/bettergastax/bettergastax.pdf

Editor’s Note: The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (itepnet.org) describes itself as is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that works on federal, state and local tax policy issues.

When I’m 64

If you own roads, design roads, plan roads or have to work out how to manage them, consider this:

Florida is home to one of the highest percentages of residents aged 65 and older in the United States. But very few of them have thought about their future behind the wheel.

In fact, 13 percent of older driver respondents to a new survey developed by Florida State University (FSU) and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) indicated they would not stop driving at all, with 3 percent expressing the opinion that they would die before they would stop driving.

Older drivers are at a disproportionate risk for being involved in a fatal vehicular crash, according to John Reynolds, the Eagles Professor of Sociology at Florida State and director of the university’s Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy.

Among the findings, according to FSU:

• Most older drivers don’t plan for a future day when they may be unable to drive safely. Eighty-three percent of survey respondents aged 65 and older, and 92 percent of 50- to 64-year-olds, report that they have no “transportation retirement plan.” Very few (slightly under 4 percent) plan to use a community driver program or paratransit service.

• Many aging road users see no alternatives to driving in their communities. Forty percent of respondents aged 65 and older reply that they ride with family or friends, 26 percent say they walk, and 15 percent say there is no other way to get around other than driving.

China Buys U.S.

China State Construction Engineering Corp., the People’s Republic’s biggest builder by market value, intends to buy a U.S. construction company next year as it begins investing as much as $2 billion in the world’s largest economy, according to a Bloomberg report. The builder has shortlisted two potential takeover targets, including one with annual sales of about $1 billion, says the report.

State Taxes Stronger

While we keep worrying about funds for our highways and bridges from Washington, the concern over what states can find in their coffers has also been a constant for the past couple of years. Now the Rockefeller Institute of Government is reporting that tax collection data for the July-September quarter of 2011 shows growth in overall state tax collections. Though “more modest” than the previous three quarters, the growth was “still strong.” Among 48 early reporting states, all but three showed gains in collections over the same quarter in 2010. We now have seven consecutive quarters with rising state tax collections following five quarters of decline triggered by the Great Recession. And after those seven quarters of growth, overall state tax revenues have recovered to pre-recession figures.

SAY WHAT

“Hopefully, we learned a little lesson last year.”

—TxDOT spokesman Mark Pettit, as Dallas — still smarting from its struggle with a freak snowstorm during Super Bowl week last year — gets it first fleet of snowplows.

Clarification: In the “The State of Bridges” article in Better Roads’ November 2011 issue, the number of Texas’s structurally deficient (SD) and functionally obsolete (FO) bridges were transposed in the left-hand column on page 11. Texas has 1,469 SD bridges and 7,480 FO bridges. The table on page 12 titled, “Highest Percentage of SD/FO State/Interstate Bridges” contained the data for “Highest Percentage of Total SD/FO City/County/Township Bridges.” The corrected article is on the Better Roads website, www.betterroads.com/the-state-of-our-bridges/, and also in the November digital edition on the website.

STOP GO CRAWL STOP GO CRAWL

There are a more than 300 major “congestion corridors” on America’s highway system, according to a new report by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI).

The 2011 Congested Corridors Report is the first nationwide effort to identify reliability problems at specific stretches of highway responsible for significant traffic congestion at different times and on different days. TTI researchers say they hope the findings will help planners and engineers find a way to de-congest these, and other roads.

The report describes congestion problems in 328 seriously congested corridors (to be considered a “corridor” in the report, congestion should impact a freeway segment at least three miles long over a variety of times) all day, morning and evening peaks, midday, and weekends. Not only were these roads found to have more stop-and-go traffic than others, they were also much less predictable — “so, not only does it take longer, commuters and truckers have a difficult time knowing how much longer it will take each time they make the same trip,” said co-author David Schrank.

Among the report’s key findings:

• The 328 corridors, while accounting for only 6 percent of the nation’s total freeway lane-miles and 10 percent of the traffic, account for 36 percent of the country’s urban freeway congestion.

• The 328 corridors account for 8 percent of the national truck traffic and 33 percent of urban freeway truck delay. Travel time reliability is more of a problem around bridges, tunnels and toll facilities, both because there are few alternate routes available in such circumstances and because a small incident can have a huge effect on corridor travel times.

Researchers say they believe that the report can be useful in determining where transportation system improvements will have the greatest impact. The best approach, they say, is to consider all the congestion solutions:

• Traditional road building and new or expanded transit facilities;

• Traffic management strategies, such as aggressive crash removal;

• Demand management strategies like improving commuter information and employer- based ideas such as telecommuting and flexible work hours; and

• Denser development patterns with a mix of jobs, shops and homes so people can walk, bike or take transit to more and closer, destinations.

NOTE: You can download the report at http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/corridors-report-2011.pdf

SAY WHAT?

“Cheap oil equals more cars and planes; expensive oil equals trains.”

Anthony Perl, chair, Transportation Research Board’s Rail Group

Eeyoring TIGGER

Oh, well, sad news but what are you going to do. It’s looking like TIGGER (Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction) grants, which began as part of the Stimulus legislation, will be put on hold next year and their fate after that probably isn’t something to be joyously optimistic about. But TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grants, another Stimulus creation, are still going strong and are likely to see significantly more funding next year. Woo-hoor!

It’s not television news. It’s the opening screen shot of See The Blindspots (www.Seetheblindspots.com), a pedestrian and bicyclist safety campaign developed for the Florida DOT District 7 (Tampa) that aims to cut pedestrian fatalities in the area by 20 percent. Florida leads the nation in pedestrian deaths and Tampa-St Petersburg and Orlando are the two most dangerous American cities for walkers when it comes to vehicles.

Seems the folks at FDOT Region 7 felt their apparently easy-to-ignore efforts to date had insufficient impact. This campaign is scary and can be sickening to watch. And they’re right, it’s not for kids. It has its critics. But if it works, it may help other cities bring down their pedestrian and bike fatality rates, tough love style.

Supreme Court lets roadside crosses ruling stand

The Supreme Court has declined to consider whether roadside memorial crosses to honor fallen state highway troopers violated church-state separation. The justices refused to review an appeals court ruling that 14 large cross memorials along Utah public roads, put there by the Utah Highway Patrol Association to memorialize troopers killed in the line of duty, indicated government endorsement of Christianity. The first of the crosses, which are 12-foot high with 6-foot crossbars, went up in 1998. They were paid for privately, but 11 of them were on public land.

Scientists at the University of California-Riverside’s Center for Environmental Research and Technology have received a $2 million contract for a first-of-its-kind study of hybrid construction vehicles.

The two-year project, which is being funded by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), will allow researchers to evaluate the emissions-reduction benefits of two commercially-available hybrid construction vehicles: a Caterpillar dozer and a Komatsu hydraulic excavator.

“Hybrid construction vehicles are just now becoming available,” Kent Johnson, an assistant research engineer at the Center for Environmental Research and Technology and the principal investigator on the project, says in a written statement. “We have been asked to use our emissions-testing experience to quantify what their benefit is.”

Little is known about the potential benefits of hybrid technologies for construction equipment because of their unique and diverse duty cycles. Manufacturers say the hybrid vehicles reduce fuel needs by 20 percent and cut emissions by 30 percent, according to Johnson. Vehicles behavior will be characterized on a second-by-second basis during in-use operations at construction sites using portable emission-measurement systems. Researchers will design standardized tasks, such as lifting a heavy object.

How do I Toll thee? Let me count the ways?

The Illinois Tollway, our largest open-road tolling system, has issued a request for information (RFI) to prospective vendors to learn about the latest electronic tolling technologies, products and services. The focus is on key areas of electronic tolling: vehicle classification, license plate imaging, transaction capture, account management, video tolling account management, violations management and interoperability management.

Earlier this year, the Tollway’s board of directors discussed new goals for the agency’s electronic tolling system, including:

• a strategic redefinition of the Tollway’s business rules, including policies, processes and procedures;

• enhanced transparency and accountability, including better monitoring and reporting;

• reduced system response times;

• enhanced flexibility to accommodate change; and

• enhanced competition and vendor specialization.

The Illinois Tollway is a user-fee system that receives no state or federal funds for maintenance and operations. The agency maintains and operates 286 miles of Interstate tollways in 12 counties. Approximately 84 percent of all transactions on the system are electronic, coming from more than 4.3 million active transponders and more than 3.2 million active I-PASS accounts.

The Tollway plans to have a new electronic tolling system in place before the end of 2014. RFI written responses are due to the Illinois Tollway on Nov. 23 by 10:30 a.m. Find out more at illinoistollway.com

Johnny Cash’s Bridge

Remember the classic Cash hit “One Piece At A Time” about an auto plant worker stealing one part at a time until he had a sort of new Cadillac? Took years. Now reports out of Pennsylvania say thieves were taking a bridge a bit at a time. Seems they cut a 50-foot-long, access-road steel bridge across an isolated creek in the woods into 3-foot-long sections. Then, unlike Cash who just drove his creation, they sold their 15 1/2 tons of steel as scrap for $5,000. Bad move. You know what happened. Someone noticed their bridge was missing. Two 20-something brothers were arrested.

MoDOT’s vehicle-exhaust-pollution-reducing Concrete

The Missouri DOT (MoDOT) is spearheading extensive research on the environmental benefits of using concrete made with a new cement product in the construction of highways. The cement used in the concrete is blended with photo-chemically-active titanium dioxide (TiO2). Marketed under the trade name “TX Active,” TiO2 is capable of reducing environmental pollutants from vehicle exhaust.

Starting this fall, the mainline pavement material will be applied using a two-lift paving strategy, which involves the placement of two wet-on-wet layers of concrete instead of a single, homogeneous layer. The lower, base-level layer is expected to be constructed with less expensive materials (e.g., a low cementitious-material content base lift) that will then be overlaid with a thinner top wearing-course of concrete containing cement blended with TX Active.

The shoulder pavement element of this research effort involves cement blended with TX Active. In this instance the cement blended with TX Active will be used in a pervious (rather than conventional) concrete application. Together, this set of innovative mainline and shoulder paving materials, including both a two-lift photocatalytic mainline pavement and a photocatalytic pervious shoulder pavement, are believed to represent one of the most technically-advanced and environmentally-friendly concrete pavement systems ever employed, according to MoDOT.

Wildlife Winners

The California Departments of Transportation and Fish and Game have been recognized by the Federal Highway Administration for their work to protect wildlife and habitat.

The FHWA Exemplary Ecosystem Initiative Awards honor projects that are unique in geographic scope, use cutting-edge science or technology, have high environmental standards, achieve high-quality results, or are recognized as noteworthy by environmental interests. In 2011, the FHWA recognized just 12 projects.

California’s Essential Habitat Connectivity Project identifies ways to lessen the effects of transportation infrastructure projects on wildlife connectivity. The project identifies and maps corridors between large intact habitat areas, which may inform decisions related to the location of construction for highways, railways, or solar-energy projects. Links to view the maps and download the geographic information system (GIS) data and reports are at dfg.ca.gov/habcon/connectivity/

Also recognized was the Madera Pools Restoration and Mitigation Site Project, which combines individual mitigation projects for vernal pools across Madera, Kings and Fresno counties into a single 198-acre site and makes it more valuable as quality habitat.

Good News on France

Two big indicators from the City of Light: positive worldwide growth forecasts for construction equipment and 90 percent of the exhibit space for next April’s giant Intermat 2012 trade show in Paris is already sold.

The Intermat folks in Paris say the industry numbers for 2011 are more favorable than for 2010, and that the sector is recovering its dynamism, with worldwide growth anticipated to reach some 11 percent this year.

“Eight months before Intermat 2012, we have excellent participation rates,” says Maryvonne Lanoë, exhibition manager. “Industrialists are showing confidence in their sector, which is a good omen for a business-inducing show. Moreover, the market is up to scratch and booming, with a stable number of jobs.”

Intermat expects 1,500 exhibitors – 67 percent of them international companies – and more than 200,000 visitors – 40 percent of them from outside France.

In an attempt to “refocus” on its strengths in the industrial product space, specifically compact construction, landscaping and utility equipment, New Holland will shed its North American offering of full-sized construction machines starting in 2012.

The construction brand of the venerable New Holland line today managed by Fiat’s CNH division, New Holland Construction will withdraw its crawler dozers, motor graders, telescopic handlers, 80-horsepower-plus wheel loaders and 6-ton-plus excavators from the North American market, the company announced Sept. 15. New Holland skid steers, compact track loaders, backhoe loaders, compact wheel loaders, tractor loaders and compact excavators will continue to compete in the market.

“New Holland Construction’s heritage in North America is a great source of pride,” says Jim Hasler, vice president of CNH Construction, North America, “and we are pleased with the success of our compact line.

“We are committed to providing our New Holland Construction customers with the superior equipment performance they expect.”

What It Means

Given CNH’s presence in the market with the Case brand, the pulling back of the New Holland Construction offering in North America may just reflect the reality that the recent recessionary times for the industry are not turning around as quickly as hoped for.

That CNH can serve the general construction markets with a full line of Case equipment without the partial competition of New Holland moving forward would seem to have a market cleansing effect. As it has been, New Holland has made inroads with some full-sized equipment offerings in specific geographical areas of North America, but on the whole has not offered the breadth of product and services across the board to compete as a full-line market player. Caterpillar, it has not been.

Let there be no confusion, however: This is a significant announcement that will affect a good number of construction equipment customers and dealers who have come to rely on New Holland excavators, dozers, large loaders and even the occasional motor grader.

For many years, I resided in a rural community that was immediately served by one construction equipment dealer – a New Holland Construction dealer.

To suggest contractors and dealer personnel in this community won’t have to at least change gears moving forward would both be a slight and a true disservice to them.

More on the Fly Ash Debate

A byproduct of burning coal to produce electricity is worth more than $5 billion year to the road, runway and bridge industries, according to a new study.

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association says the cost of building those structures would increase by an estimated $104.6 billion over the next 20 years if coal fly ash is no longer available as a building material. Alison Premo Black, ARTBA’s senior economist and the report’s author, says that without fly ash, construction would cost $2.53 billion more a year because of the price of alternative materials and another $2.73 billion annually in pavement and bridge repair work due to the shorter pavement and service life of other Portland cement blends.

Fly ash is widely used as a supplementary cementitious material in the production of concrete, and is, says ARTBA, the “mixture of choice for many state and local transportation departments and transportation engineers because of its performance and cost-saving benefits.”

So why stop using it? Fly ash may be the subject of new environmental disposal regulations that would ban its use in this sort of construction.

The ARTBA study was commissioned by Headwaters Resources, the largest manager of coal ash in the U.S. Headwaters’ president Bill Gehrmann says that, “without coal ash, concrete will become more expensive and the environmental footprint of the transportation sector will only increase. There is,” he says, “nothing green or sustainable in such a scenario.”

A World of (commuter) Hurt

A new IBM survey of the daily commute in a cross-section of some of the most economically important international cities reveals a startling dichotomy, says the company: While the commute itself has become a lot more bearable over the past year, drivers’ complaints are going through the roof.

The annual global IBM Commuter Pain Survey reveals that, in a number of cities, more people are taking public transportation rather than driving, when compared with last year’s survey. In many cities, says the company, there were big jumps in the percentage of respondents who said that roadway traffic has improved either “somewhat” or “substantially” in the past three years. The survey results suggest that aggressive infrastructure investment in some of the most rapidly growing economies seems to be paying off, says IBM.

The Index ranks the emotional and economic toll of commuting in 20 international cities. Of those cities, Montreal provided the least stressful commute, Mexico City the most painful. In many cities, the survey recorded significant increases, when compared with last year, in the number of respondents who said that roadway traffic has increased their levels of personal stress and anger and negatively affected their performance at work or school.

“Commuting doesn’t occur in a vacuum,” said Naveen Lamba, IBM’s global intelligent transportation expert. “A person’s emotional response to the daily commute is colored by many factors – pertaining both to traffic congestion as well as to other, unrelated, issues. This year’s Global Commuter Pain survey indicates that drivers in cities around the world are much more unsettled and anxious compared with 2010.”

Read the entire survey at www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/35314.wss v

Better Roads Turns 80

It was 80 years ago this month that Better Roads was published for the first time. That’s some achievement whichever way you look at it. When I sat down to write a column about this anniversary at the beginning of the year, I remember thinking that this is such a long period of time that fortune, chance, luck, call it what you might, cannot explain it. Think of the eras, the bad times, the changes that dramatically re-shaped the highway and bridge industries over those years. This magazine has been valued by a lot of people with a very wide range of needs and wants, for a very long time.

I wrote some new words to go here, but I’ve gone back and reprised a section from that column because I think those words were better: Longevity alone can be misleading. Survival is not always evidence of excellence. But as I look into the old pages, I think I see why there is an 80-year history. What I want, and it seems to me what my predecessors sought, was to edit a magazine that was always anticipated and valued highly by its readers. That is how we reached this anniversary. And that’s how we’ll reach the next ones.

We are like so many of the people who live and breathe this industry – intensely passionate about it. That may be the single biggest factor in our 80-year success story. You can see our first 75-year retrospective on the betterroads.com website. I recommend it. These old stories will bring you back in touch with much of the history of our industry as it was made. v

A Feel Good Story

Lorie Tudor was hired by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department in 1981 as a clerk typist. Today, she is the department’s assistant chief engineer of planning, and apparently the highest-ranking female engineer ever in the agency.

According to an Arkansas News story by Rob Moritz, she managed only two years at a tech college before leaving for the full-time clerk typist job at the department. Rising as far as she could without a college degree, she left and with family support took on a civil engineering degree at the University of Memphis.

The rest, as they say, if pure feel-good history. For the full story, go to arkansasnews.com and type her name into the site’s search box. v

No Gas Tax Hike

No Problem?

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) has proposed a revenue-neutral solution to rebuild and modernize America’s Interstates.

A multi-year highway bill can be fully funded without raising the gas tax, says AEM.

The plan is straightforward enough: It’s a user fee. But Congress will almost certainly balk, because since SAFETEA-LU ran out, any suggestions that road users pay more has been stonewalled.

“With no political will by policymakers to increase the gas tax, we must look for other practical solutions that ensure the nation’s transportation needs are satisfied,” says AEM President Dennis Slater.

This proposal will provide critically needed funding, “without raising motor fuel or diesel fuel taxes and with no increase to the debt or the deficit,” says the plan’s architect, Jack Schenendorf, former vice chairman of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, a major analyst body optimistically assembled before SAFETEA-LU expired in 2009.

The AEM proposal will inevitably run head-on into an unwillingness to use tolls, or user fees paid as if they were tolls, held by both the administration and the Republicans on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee – and a lot of others in Congress. The core of their opposition is that the roads were built with tax dollars and taxing the taxpayers to use them is an unfair double tax (tolling new roads is acceptable to both sides, but without an adequate Highway Trust Fund its unlikely many of those will be built in the short term). And Congress will worry mightily about privacy issues.

On the other hand, the proposal would do what no one else has been able to do without a gas tax hike – fund an adequate Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for the next five years. Alternatives to a higher gas tax have been tossed around since SAFETEA-LU expired and all through the extensions that have kept it comatose since, but none offer rapid income; they are nearly all long-term ideas with no reliable timetable.

The revenue-neutral transportation funding proposal offers two fee solutions:

A Federal Interstate User Fee

All vehicles using the Interstate Highway System would pay a user fee. The fee would be collected through an “EZ Pass”-like system, which would be entirely electronic. There would be no tollbooths.

All of the revenues generated by the fee would be deposited in a special account in the Highway Trust Fund. The revenues would be used exclusively to restore the Interstate Highway System to a state of good repair and to expand and modernize it to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

The fee structure would be set annually, by an independent group of experts, at the level necessary to reimburse the states in accordance with policies established by Congress for the federal share of these improvements. No higher, no lower. The fees would not be designed to control the level of traffic or to “price out” drivers from using the Interstate.

A Federal Motor Carrier User Fee

This fee would be imposed on commercial trucks’ usage of all roads and would be collected through GPS-like systems currently being used by many trucking companies.

Trucks would not be double-charged for miles traveled on the Interstate; rather, those miles would be recorded through the Federal Interstate User Fee program.

SAY WHAT?

“The credit, the saving, and convenience of this country all require that our great roads leading from one public place to another should be straightened and established by law … To me these things seem indispensably necessary.”

– General George Washington, 1785, realizing America’s core need to build and care for a superior road system

Fed Grants Boost State DOT Budgets

Washington has handed out $417.3 million in grants for state highway projects – seriously less than the $13 billion states had asked for in their wish lists.

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood says the grants will fund work ranging from Interstate maintenance to research into innovative bridge materials and construction methods.

“The demand from the states for these funds shows just how critical the need is for infrastructure investment,” he says. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) invited states to apply in June for federal funding from 14 discretionary grant programs and received more than 1,800 applications, totaling nearly $13 billion, which is more than 30 times the funds available.

“The list of state highway projects in need of financial help grows almost daily,” says FHWA Administrator Victor Mendez. “At a time when states are facing serious budgetary constraints, these grants will help fill a critical need. Investments like these are immediate and long-lasting and will help create jobs.”

And what did your state get? See the state-by-state list at fhwa.dot.gov/pressroom/fhwa1137/

And the Awards Go To….

The American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE) has honored Randall-Reilly Publishing Co., parent company of Better Roads, with three national editorial awards, 12 regional editorial awards and three design awards in the organization’s Azbee Awards of Excellence.

This is a peer-judged contest that honors the top Business-to-Business publications.

Better Roads won four awards — two gold, one silver and one bronze.

Mud Dud

EPA has got a little mud on its tires.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has decided to back off from proposed “numeric turbidity limits” on the amount of dirt the agency will allow in stormwater from construction sites.

We might call dirt in water plain ol’ mud.

The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), Stephen E. Sandherr, reacted by saying that, “The fact that the EPA recognizes the serious flaws in the data supporting its efforts to impose a rigid, one-size-fits all, limit on the amount of dirt in rainwater leaving construction sites is encouraging. Indeed, contractors are already required to take significant measures to ensure that dirt – clean, uncontaminated dirt – does not escape from project sites. Setting a specific limit on how much dirt should be in rainwater will only force contractors to spend billions more on new dirt-busting measures that may not work, expose firms to costly lawsuits from outside groups and put them at risk of receiving tens of thousands in daily fines.”

But Sandherr is not entirely happy with the agency’s withdrawal, because he notes, “EPA is only seeking to delay imposing its new mud rule, instead of abandoning the idea all together.”

Technically, the EPA has withdrawn its 2009 proposal from the White House Office of Management and Budget. OMB clearance is the last step in the rulemaking process before a proposal (or final rule) is signed and published in the Federal Register.

The Fall Goes On

New infrastructure rankings in the World Economic Forum’s 2011-2012 Global Competitive Report are due out this month. According to a copy obtained by Reuters news agency, the U.S. ranks 16th, falling a notch as South Korea moved past us in the last twelve months.

In the forum’s 2007-2008 report, American infrastructure was ranked 6th best in the world. Take a look at the 2010-11 rankings:

WORLD INFRASTRUCTURE RANKING

1. HONG KONG

2. GERMANY

3. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

4. FRANCE

5. SINGAPORE

6. SWITZERLAND

7. NETHERLANDS

8. UNITED KINGDOM

9. CANADA

10. SWEDEN

11. JAPAN

12. ICELAND

13. DENMARK

14. SPAIN

15. UNITED STATES

Source: World Economic Forum, “The Global Competitiveness Report 2010-11,” Table 6.

American Public Works Association (APWA) brings 2011 International Public Works Congress and Exposition to Denver

A PWA is bringing innovation and motivation to the Mile High City in September.

The American Public Works Association (APWA) is hosting its annual convention Sept. 17-21 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. The conference theme , “Elevate Your Community,” has also been given the tagline, “Innovation. Motivation. Elevation.”

It seems there is an app for almost everything and APWA is using its annual Congress as a way to educate attendees on how to leverage the latest technologies in public works, motivate them to use these tools, and elevate their agencies by implementing them.

There will be 125 education sessions and hundreds of exhibitors covering 90,000-plus square feet of exhibit space. “This year’s Congress will not only provide the information on the latest innovations and technologies, but will also include speakers [who] highlight new public works programs, applications, as well as sessions on social media, sustainability, funding, software and new ways to manage and think,” Peter King, APWA executive director, tells Better Roads.

Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), will address the opening general session. “Public works professionals will not want to miss his presentation on ‘Crisis Management in Complex Organizations,’” King says. “Gen. Hayden has been on the frontline of geopolitical strife and global change, and he understands the dangers, risks and potential rewards in political, economic and security situations that we all face.”

This year’s Congress also will feature a new “APWA Expo Experience” with the latest “Apps in Public Works” and new “Continuing the Conversation” program where interviews with speakers will be conducted around the clock, King says. There will “more than 200 educational sessions to choose from, and conference participants can continue to connect with public works colleagues through many networking opportunities,” King says. “We expect delegates to leave Denver with numerous ideas to ‘elevate’ their communities.”

Conference at a Glance

Sunday, Sept. 17, 2011

Opening General Session

10 a.m. to noon

Michael Hayden

Retired U.S. Air Force Four-Star General; former director, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); former director, National Security Agency

Topic: “Crisis Management in Complex Organizations”

Monday General Session

8:30 to 9:45 a.m.

Ian Hill

Award-winning change agent, founder and president of the Changing Point

Topic: “Becoming a Community Builder – Leadership in Changing Times”

Tuesday General Session

8:30 to 9:45 a.m.

Steven Berlin Johnson, best-selling author, social critic and technologist

Topic: “Creativity and the Brain – Where Do Great Ideas Come From?”

Wednesday General Session

11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Gregg Steinberg

Sports psychologist, professor of human performance

Topic: “Full Throttle: How to Supercharge Your Energy and Performance at Work”

The Value of Smooth

Bumpy roads are costly roads, according to a study presented at the midyear meeting of the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) and soon to be published by Auburn University.

Dr. Richard Willis, an assistant research professor at Auburn, says that even modest improvements in the smoothness of pavements could save up to 2.4 billion gallons of gasoline and 900 million gallons of diesel for the U.S. every year. Willis and Auburn’s Dr. Rob Jackson analyzed more than 20 studies from throughout the world.

“We know that, of all the factors that influence fuel economy – vehicle aerodynamics, engine dynamics, ambient air temperature, tire geometry, vehicle speed, tire pressure and so forth – there is only one that pavements can affect, and that is rolling resistance,” says Willis. “Rolling resistance can be thought of as the force required to keep tires rolling. It could also be thought of as the energy lost between the vehicle and the pavement. Of the two main influences on rolling resistance related to pavements – those due to the stiffness properties of the tire and those due to imperfections in the pavement surface – the pavement industry has the opportunity to influence only one, the pavement itself.”

Willis breaks down his numbers: “A study published by Schmidt and Ullidtz in 2010 showed that slight improvements in smoothness can reduce fuel consumption by 1.8 to 2.7 percent. Other studies suggest larger reductions of up to 4.5 percent. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics says that vehicles traveling on U.S. highways consumed 168 billion gallons of gas and diesel in 2009. AAA reported last week that the average price of gas was $3.66 per gallon and diesel averaged $3.93. Using a conservative figure of a 2.0-percent reduction in fuel consumption, we could thus save 3.3 billion gallons of fuel, or $12.5 billion, every year,” he says.

NAPA President Mike Acott says rough roads also cost Americans billions for excessive repairs. “The Road Information Program calculates that rough roads cost the average American motorist $324 every year – a total of $67 billion – just for extra wear and tear on vehicles. Adding this figure to the $12.5 billion in potential fuel savings, we can see that the U.S. could save nearly $80 billion a year by building and maintaining smoother pavements.”

Cyclist Power

There’s a new law in Los Angeles. The City Council in the City of Angels passed an ordinance to protect bicyclists from harassment and other abuses by passing motorists.

The new law comes after some fiery activism by bicyclists who claim to have been subject to treatment from recklessly dangerous to just plain crude. Supporters of the ordinance say it’s one of the toughest in America, making it a crime for drivers to threaten cyclists, either verbally or physically. It also allows a cyclist that claims to have been harassed to sue in civil court without waiting for the city to press criminal charges.

Say WHAT?

“It could be different next time when you have Son of Carmageddon.”

Dennis S. Mileti, a University of Colorado sociologist, after 10 miles of Los Angeles’ 405 freeway was closed for 36 hours without major traffic problems.

Save the Date and Innovate

It’s easy to think of innovation as a technical asset. It’s also a financial asset. Outfits that can think and work innovatively have an advantage over their competition and can save time and money. They can find new markets and new niches more efficiently than competitors, they can expand capabilities, find opportunities and problem solve more effectively than non-innovators. All good for the bottom lines.

The TransOvation Conference, run Sept. 6-9 by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) in Leesburg, Va., is a place to start, or expand, your innovative thinking in the transportation infrastructure industries. (See the details and register at www.transovation.org)

The speakers, who are highlighted on the website, are exceptionally qualified to talk about innovation. And ARTBA says TransOvation is the first PDH (Professional Development Hours)-granting educational workshop and exhibit focused on innovation and developed specifically for young executives in the transportation design and construction industry. At the TransOvation workshop, you’ll earn PDHs from the ARTBA Foundation’s Transportation Builder Institute (TBI).

Participants will explore two new complex highway and bridge projects in the Washington, D.C., area — the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and Intercounty Connector — and learn how innovative thinking was brought to bear during the planning, design and construction phases to overcome challenges, build teamwork, gain public support and add value while controlling costs.

Better Roads is a conference media partner and I’ll be at the conference. Look me up.

– John Latta

Not All Storms (and Stormwater) are the Same

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been told that roadbuilding contractors will be treated unfairly if it creates “one-size-fits-all” stormwater regulations.

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) told EPA that its permits for stormwater runoff from construction sites should take into account many of the features that make transportation projects unique. EPA must consider the long, linear nature of many transportation improvements, said ARTBA, because these projects spread environmental impacts over a large area of land, as opposed to the concentrated manner associated with shopping malls or other projects.

“Builders and planners need flexibility with future stormwater permitting measures, since transportation projects are initiated in every part of the country, and those in areas with heavy rainfall should not be held to the same standards as those in arid regions,” said ARTBA. The association also warned EPA that any regulations should be crafted to ensure they do not create another avenue for opponents to use litigation to delay and/or disrupt needed transportation projects, thereby increasing the costs to taxpayers in the long run.

Cat to sponsor reality series

If you think you’re the best operator out there, you could have a shot at showing off your skills on TV. Caterpillar is sponsoring “American Hard Hat,” a reality competition series to air on the Travel Channel. Using Cat machines, contestants will go head to head to prove they are the best construction worker on the job. To apply for the series, you must be at least 18 years of age and an experienced heavy machine operator. Applicants will answer a series of questions, submit photos and make a casting video. In addition to equipment expertise, the show is looking for contestants who display a colorful personality, a good sense of humor and hometown pride.

New Life Expectancy

Self-curing concrete from Canada and long-lived bridge decks

A more durable concrete that will increase the average lifespan of bridge decks by more than 20 years compared to typical high-strength concrete, and by more than 40 years compared to normal-strength concrete, has been developed by Dr. Daniel Cusson, a senior researcher at Canada’s NRC Institute for Research in Construction (NRC-IRC).

Time-dependent probability of concrete cover spalling in a typical reinforced concrete bridge deck. (NC=normal-strength concrete; HPC=typical high performance concrete; HPC-IC=high performance concrete with internal curing)

 This high-performance concrete has been specially formulated to minimize shrinkage, which is typical of high-strength concrete, while maintaining its excellent mechanical properties. It also greatly reduces cracking, which diminishes the penetration of aggressive agents into the concrete, such as chlorides from the de-icing salts used on roads. As a result, it takes considerably more time for the chlorides to reach the steel reinforcement, initiate corrosion and induce further damage to the structure.

The key difference is in the sand: lightweightt, porous, shale-fine aggregate, which replaces about a quarter of the normal sand used to make concrete. This porous sand can hold up to 20 percent of its own weight of water, which serves to cure the concrete uniformly from the inside, thus preventing self-desiccation. With a unit cost only 5 percent higher than that of a standard high-strength concrete, Cusson expects concrete bridge decks made with this new concrete to last longer, saving taxpayers money in annual bridge maintenance, recurring repairs and associated traffic disruption, and replacement.

Currently, this new self-curing, high-performance concrete is being put to the test at the NRC outdoor slab testing facility, where its mechanical performance and corrosion resistance are being monitored with embedded instrumentation and periodic nondestructive testing. This field testing is being conducted under the severe weather conditions that most Canadian bridges face: cyclic loading, exposure to de-icing salts, freeze-thaw cycles, wet-dry cycles and solar radiation.

This concrete formulation is being considered for the deck construction of the Canal Bridge, which is part of the North Channel Bridge replacement project in Cornwall. The $75 million infrastructure project from Federal Bridge Corp. is slated to start later this year. Research partners include the City of Ottawa, Federal Bridge, National Capital Commission, Transports Québec and W.R. Grace.

For more information, contact Daniel Cusson at daniel.cusson

@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca or 613-998-7361.

Editor’s Note: This story and photo are reproduced from the March 2011 issue of Construction Innovation (www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/ci) with permission from the National Research Council of Canada Institute for Research in Construction

Innovation: Learn How it’s Done

This could change the way you do what you do.

It’s the inaugural TransOvation Workshop and Exhibition (September 6-9, Lansdowne Conference Center, in Leesburg, Virginia). Speakers will share the secrets of their “idea incubating” corporate cultures and how they have used innovative thinking to solve problems and change the way their companies do business.

And Better Roads is a media partner to the event that is the work of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. The program was developed specifically for young industry executives and offers Professional Development Hours.

Speakers include:

• Ted Zoli, a heralded bridge engineer and a vice president at HNTB, is a 2009 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship recipient. Esquire magazine profiled Zoli in a 2010 cover story, “The Brightest: 16 Geniuses Who Give Us Hope.” Zoli also teaches at Princeton and Columbia.

• John Hillman, winner of the 2010 Engineering News-Record magazine “Award of Excellence” for his development of the Hybrid Composite Beam.

• Darcy Winslow, Nike’s sustainability innovator and executive-in-residence at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, has been called a “business rock star.” She will reveal how her team brought a sustainability revolution to Nike.

• Jerry Karel, 3M’s technical director, is a long-time practitioner and leader of R&D programs at Bell Laboratories and 3M.

• Dr. Rachel K. Arulraj, an award-winning speaker, has spent her entire career bringing innovation to transportation design through new technologies.

Participants will explore two new complex highway and bridge projects in the Washington, D.C., area — the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and Intercounty Connector — and learn how innovative thinking was brought to bear during the planning, design and construction phases to overcome challenges; build teamwork; gain public support; and add value while controlling costs. Attendees will also learn the nuances of protecting their firm’s intellectual property in an open-procurement environment and how 3D and 4D technology will change the face of transportation design in the 21st century.

Registration, sponsorship and exhibition information is available at www.transovation.org

Say What?

“This will make my Republican friends puke — as gas is going to go down here now, we ought to just slap a 50 cent or a dollar tax on a gallon of gas.”

General Motors Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson, looking to get more people to buy smaller vehicles

Aha! The Congestion Conundrum

A new report delivers what it calls “The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion.”

Essentially that law is this: building more roads is unlikely to relieve congestion.

Two Canadian researchers investigated the effect of lane miles of roads on vehicle-miles travelled (well, they’re Canadian, they did it in kilometers). The foundations underlying the fundamental law of highway congestion, they say, are these: “people drive more when the stock of roads in their city increases; commercial driving and trucking increase with a city’s stock of roads; people migrate to cities which that are relatively well well-provided with roads.”

What’s more, they found, a new lane lane-mile of roadway “diverts little traffic from other roads.”

Gilles Duranton and Matthew A. Turner, from the University of Toronto, say simply that their results do not support the notion that adding highway capacity is key to helping to reduce traffic congestion.”

Glasnostrak

John L. Mica (R-FL), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Bill Shuster (R-PA), Chairman of the House Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, have come up with “a new direction for U.S. passenger rail service.”

“After 40 years of costly and wasteful Soviet-style operations under Amtrak, this proposal encourages private sector investment and operations in U.S. passenger rail service,” Mica said. “Competition in high-speed and intercity passenger rail will cut taxpayer subsidies, improve service, and bring our nation into the 21st century of passenger rail transportation.

“Amtrak has repeatedly bungled development and operations in the Northeast Corridor, and their new long-term, expensive plan to try to improve the corridor is simply unacceptable,” Mica continued. “The nation cannot afford to continue throwing money away on this highly subsidized, ineffective disaster. It is time for a new direction”

The Mica/Shuster initiative aims to end Amtrak’s monopoly, bring private sector expertise and financing to the table, create competition and jobs and bring real high-speed rail to the nation’s Northeast Corridor between Washington, DC, New York City and Boston. The proposal will also give states greater control and authority over their intercity passenger rail services, currently operated by Amtrak.

Before you can bid, tell me which candidates you contributed to.

By John Latta, Tina Grady Barbaccia and Mike Anderson

It’s always a good idea to keep an eye on what our government does that might be the thin end of the wedge.

A draft Executive Order from the White House would force prospective government contractors to reveal political contributions. It’s designed for federal contractors, of course, but it is also an insight into the reasoning inside the White House think tanks, and as such it may possibly be indicative of the thinking in some state executive mansions and other smoke-filled rooms.

Already senior politicians from both sides of the aisle have come down hard on the draft proposal, which is entitled “Disclosure of Political Spending by Government Contractors,” while others have supported it as bringing more “transparency” to government processes. The most pointed criticism argues that the rule would do exactly what it is designed to curb, politicizing the bidding process.

The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) says if the order becomes reality, it would make it too easy for political appointees to punish contractors for their political views or to coerce contributions from firms. AGC’s CEO Stephen E. Sandherr tells a joint hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Small Business, “This order actually introduces, instead of excludes, politics from government contracting.” U.S. Chamber of Commerce says that ensuring no administration has the capability of politically intimidating contractors is not a partisan issue.”

The draft order would require any contractors submitting a bid for federal government work to disclose two years’ worth of political expenditures and contributions, if any one recipient received more than $5,000 in a given year. This would not only apply to money companies or company officers gave to candidates or political parties but also to third-party entities that distribute the money.

A Roadmap for Intelligent Construction

As part of an effort to cut back the time it takes to go from idea to completion in transportation projects, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) wants to increase the use of Intelligent Construction (IC) technologies and techniques.

Speaking at the American Road and Transportation Builders Association’s Federal Issues Program and Transportation Conference Coalition Fly-In, held the third week of May in Washington, D.C., FHWA construction and systems preservation engineer Chris Schneider says there will be four initial steps to the effort.

The first step will be to identify existing and emerging IC technologies; the second to identify gaps in existing research and needs for future research. The third step will be a conference in August, probably in the Midwest, where representatives of state transportation departments, industry, academia and associations will agree on a final list of these technologies. That list, says Schneider, will become the basis of a “roadmap” that will trigger a seven-year IC development program.

The roadmap should be completed by December, Schneider says, and FHWA hopes to begin preliminary implementation and deployment by next spring. This stage will involve trying to get states to employ these technologies on pilot programs.

Take This Job and Shelve It

The latest [at press time] Associated General Contractors of America report (using federal employment data) on employment in the construction shows 5,000 jobs were added in April while the industry’s unemployment rate declined slightly to 17.8 percent, nearly twice the national average. Association officials say the figures continue a year-long trend of little change in construction employment after years of steep declines and predicted “the stagnation is unlikely to change soon.”

“The construction industry may have stopped bleeding jobs, but there is no sign that employment levels are set to bounce back,” says Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “With declines in public sector investments likely to offset increases in some private-sector construction activity, we are unlikely to see significant increases in construction employment for the foreseeable future.”

According to Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s chief executive officer, “Construction will keep suffering double-digit unemployment rates as long as federal officials continue to cut infrastructure maintenance and upkeep instead of addressing out-of-control entitlement spending. The lesson here is you can’t neglect your way to greater economic prosperity.”

Hiccup or Heart Attack?

The American Institute of Architect’s Architecture Billings Index (ABI) fell sharply in April. AIA says it’s the first slowdown in billings at architecture firms since last October. “Business conditions at architecture firms had been slowly improving for the past few months, so it remains unclear if this month’s [April] downturn is a bump in the road to recovery, or indicative of a longer-term reversal in the two-quarter recovery in design activity.”

Stimulus Impact? Not Really Sure.

There seems to be in Washington – and in the industry – a sense that the Stimulus was a lifeline, a success. How much impact did it have, will it have? We don’t know exactly, and neither does the DOT.

The Stimulus (The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) provided $48 billion to the U.S. DOT to fund transportation work. By the end of March, more than 95 percent of it had been obligated to more than 15,000 projects, and the funds are paying for ongoing work.

But in a new report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the reality is, “the impact of Recovery Act investments in transportation is unknown.” GAO does say that Stimulus transportation projects supported about 50,000 full-time job equivalents in the last three months of last year and that the most recent data shows that “highway projects accounted for about two-thirds of the transportation FTEs reported.” But GAO is recommending that DOT find out just which numbers and other data are needed to assess the impact the money had made, and the agency points out that DOT “has not committed to assessing the long-term benefits” of the Stimulus’s transportation funding.

SAY WHAT?

“So what are we going to build? Are we going to keep cutting everything? Then Americans are going to turn around and say, why doesn’t this work, why doesn’t my school work, why can’t we fill the potholes? I mean it’s just crazy, honestly. It really is crazy. We’re in a crazy place right now.”

U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)

Ranking the Trashiest States

Kentucky ranked the worst in public-property litter removal efforts, and Washington state best, according to the 2011 American State Litter Scorecard presented at the American Society for Public Administration’s national conference. Each year, more than 800 Americans die in debris/litter-attributed vehicle accidents, according to the Scorecard.

States are ranked for resulting environmental quality from their overall public space litter eradication activities (mostly focusing on roadside and adjacent properties), which included the existence of behavior-controlling slogans, recycling and beverage deposits legislation, integrity of public property maintenance expenditures, departmental performances and environmentally-political-citizen-friendly conditions.

Rounding out the best states are Washington, California, Iowa, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Oregon, New Hampshire, North Carolina and New York. Bringing up the lower end of the rankings scale just ahead of Kentucky are Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Alabama, Indiana, Georgia, Illinois, Oklahoma, Montana, North Dakota and Texas.

The pressure of having no working alternatives to replace the fuel tax continues to build

By John Latta, Tina Grady Barbaccia and Mike Anderson

Is there some serious ground shifting going on, when it comes to what sort of highway bill we might (or might not) get this year?

Two events might indicate that there is some chance that the goalposts might be moving and that an adequately funded six-year bill may not be the only choice.

* In Washington, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont) is saying that Congress may have no choice but to consider a much smaller bill, and one that runs over a smaller-than-usual timeframe, because of the woeful state of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF).

* And Missouri DOT (MoDOT) is facing a situation where it might have to turn down millions of federal highway fund dollars in a few short years if it can’t come up with millions of its own to match them. Missouri is certainly not alone among the states that are facing this potentially crippling crunch, nor alone in wanting a bill to be passed so serious work can be planned.

If Baucus is right then, ironically, it might make state problems easier to deal with since the amount of dollars coming from Washington would be far lower than the amounts states now anticipate they would have to match. The bill’s funding levels would at best match SAFETEA-LU and possibly fail to even reach that level. But the downside is worse: It would also mean less total funding spent on transportation in states, a downward spiral accelerator as it hits the struggling transportation infrastructure and construction industries that need not a drop but a boost in spending.

Baucus may simply be floating a trial balloon to see if there is any chance of averting the stalemate by getting a compromise bill together. But if Baucus is reading the preliminary tea leaves correctly and the bill only runs three years as he suggests it might have to, states may have a chance to get back on their feet before the next “long-term,” i.e., six-year bill is passed, hopefully in a significantly strong economy. It may also be possible that in two years Congress will have found a way to get enough funds into the HTF without relying almost completely on fuel taxes, because that source is hopelessly inadequate these days. But there is almost no evidence that the economy will be pre-recession strong in three years, nor is there evidence that fuel tax replacement sources capable of producing the needed funds will be in place by that time either.

Baucus is a minority on this issue. The Obama Administration wants a six-year, $556-billion bill, and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif) is leading the movement in the Senate to try to create one, and has the vital chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee with which to do it. The problem, of course, is that neither the administration nor Senator Boxer can figure out a way to pay for it without raising fuel taxes, something they say they will not do.

In the meantime, MoDOT Director Kevin Keith says despite making some major cost cuts due to come into effect over the next five years, the state may have to start turning down federal funds by FY 2017. He is making an assumption that HTF funds will stay at SAFETEA-LU levels and is caught in a nasty, three-way Catch 22. If the levels of funding from Washington do stay at that level, 2017 is the year he starts turning down vital funds. If somehow the Administration gets its way on a bigger bill, the turndown starts earlier. And if the levels drop, while it staves off the turndown date, it also leaves the states without enough funds to help the transportation infrastructure sector recovery to any significant degree and limits how much vital work can be done. Other states with similar fears add to the pressure on Washington to do something.

Most transportation lobby groups in Washington vociferously say a strong six-year bill is essential so that plans can be made for long-term projects. American Road and Transportation Builders Association chairman Bill Cox said that without a six-year bill, “We are missing an opportunity to provide a long-term foundation for full economic recovery and renewed competitiveness.”

There must be, they say, enough funding in it so that states are not simply treading water and watching their transportation infrastructure continue to fall apart. They have also generally argued that three years from now the economy will not have transformed itself into booming mode so the problems facing a new bill then will not be much different than the problems now. They have almost argued loudly that it has been a year-and-a-half since SAFETEA-LU ended and the basic problem of funding has not changed. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has indicated some support for a multi-year bill without that could run less than six years, arguing that “multi” is the key goal.

A World of Bridges

If it’s June and Pittsburgh, it must be the International Bridge Conference. Next month welcomes the 28th annual IBC, the world’s most influential trade show connecting all sectors of the bridge industry under one roof, hosted by the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania (ESWP).

The event runs June 5-8 and details can be found online at www.internationalbridgeconference.org and registration is available at www.eswp.com/bridge

Last year a new strategic IBC partnership between the ESWP and the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) was announced. The two organizations have now developed a 2011 conference curriculum focusing on bridge financing and regulations, new project delivery methods and safety to help increase participation of highway and bridge contractors and public officials. The event provides technical sessions, workshops and special interest sessions and seminars that are four-, eight- or 16-hour intensive courses.

IBC annually attracts more than 1,600 attendees, with the 2010 participants coming from 48 states and 17 countries.

The three primary purposes of the IBC are:

• to host unparalleled educational sessions and workshops covering all of the latest trends and technologies in the bridge marketplace;

• to help service providers and manufacturers sell products and services to customers in a growing domestic and international bridge market; and

• to provide networking opportunities for thousands of professionals representing all facets of the bridge industry.

“IBC exists to help service providers and manufacturers sell products and services to customers in growing national and international bridge markets,” says ARTBA Director of Public Affairs Jeff Solsby. “It annually attracts thousands of bridge owners and engineers, senior policymakers, government officials, bridge designers, construction executives and suppliers from all 50 states and 20 countries in North America, Europe and Asia.”

Bypasses Needed to Bypass ‘Corridors of Crap’ Bypasses

“The problem, of course, is that you can hardly go anywhere in North Carolina, or even in the country, and not find a state-taxpayer-built highway envisioned as a ’bypass’ that has become a traffic nightmare because the local government involved allowed extreme highway glop to be built along it. Even places as comparatively traffic-free as Albemarle have clogged bypasses. Shelby wants a bypass of its bypass. They are all what former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory has referred to as ’corridors of crap.’”

— Mary Newsom, a Charlotte Observer associate editor and op-ed columnist, in her “The Naked City” blog.

Circular Solutions

Please don’t leave after the next sentence. The International Roundabout Conference will be held in Carmel, Ind., May 18-20. Read on. This event has some legs.

Carmel, pop. 80,000, has 60 roundabouts, replacing traffic-lighted intersections. Mayor, Jim Brainard, just loves them. He’s not stopping at 60; he’s converting 20 or so more. Sound a little flaky? Well, no, it’s not.

The conference promoters say that, “roundabouts result in an average 30-percent reduction in fuel consumption at each intersection” and cut the number of injury accidents at those intersections by 80 percent. TIME magazine reported back when there were only 50 roundabouts in Carmel that the city saw a 78-percent drop in accidents involving injuries and a savings of some 24,000 gallons of gas per year per roundabout because of less car idling.

Check out the conference, hosted by Carmel and Purdue University:

www.TRB.org/Conferences/Roundabout2011.aspx. OR http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=46876

Ranking the Trashiest States

Kentucky ranked the worst in public-property litter removal efforts, and Washington state best, according to the 2011 American State Litter Scorecard presented at the American Society for Public Administration’s national conference. Each year, more than 800 Americans die in debris/litter-attributed vehicle accidents, according to the Scorecard.

States are ranked for resulting environmental quality from their overall public space litter eradication activities (mostly focusing on roadside and adjacent properties), which included the existence of behavior-controlling slogans, recycling and beverage deposits legislation, integrity of public property maintenance expenditures, departmental performances and environmentally-political-citizen-friendly conditions.

Rounding out the best states are Washington, California, Iowa, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Oregon, New Hampshire, North Carolina and New York. Bringing up the lower end of the rankings scale just ahead of Kentucky are Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Alabama, Indiana, Georgia, Illinois, Oklahoma, Montana, North Dakota and Texas.

SAY WHAT?

“We’re not going to reduce the deficit by sacrificing investments in our infrastructure.”

President Barack Obama

Easy as 1-2-3

A new report claims, not surprisingly, that the disrepair of our highway infrastructure is a result of insufficient maintenance, and this deficit “is in part due to a prioritization of new projects over care for existing infrastructure and contributes to a higher-cost, lower-return system of investment.”

Matthew Kahn of the University of California, Los Angeles, and David Levinson of the University of Minnesota, authors of the report, cite “the way the federal government allocates money for transportation infrastructure investment” as a reason for both the shortfall of maintenance dollars and falling returns on new transportation infrastructure investments.

The report, a production of The Hamilton Project*, proposes a reorganization of our national highway infrastructure priorities to be subject to market discipline with a simple three-step-plan:

Fix it first.

Expand it second.

Reward it third.

First:

Rules governing the use of money from the federal 18.4-cent-a-gallon gas tax would prohibit it from being used for new construction. At present, about 30 percent of it falls into this category. All of those gas tax dollars would be dedicated “to repair, maintain, rehabilitate, reconstruct and enhance” existing roads and bridges. That would include safety enhancements, traffic control and environmental enhancements. The authors would set aside one percent of Highway Trust Fund (HTF) revenue to fund state DOT expansions to allow them to perform the analyses necessary to operate under this three-step system. One job local DOTs would have to do is to prioritize the work and start with projects offering the highest return on investment.

This basic step would boost federal highway investment for existing facilities by close to $12 billion a year, say the report authors.

Second:

The funds that states would need to build new roads, or add lanes to existing roads, would come from a newly-created, self-financing Federal Highway Bank (FHB), initially capitalized by the federal government. State and local governments would apply for loans, and the bank would prefer projects with the best prospects for repayment. But before the new bankers hand out a dollar, a series of strict criteria would have to be met, including a benefit-cost analysis that would have to demonstrate that the money was worth spending. If the state application was upside down, no loan. “States would be required to demonstrate an ability to repay the loan through direct-user charges by capturing some of the increase in land values near transportation improvements.”

The FHB, say the authors, would introduce market discipline into the process of investing in transportation infrastructure. “Under these new rules of the game, policymakers would have stronger incentives to embrace cost-effective projects. Using user fees as the primary repayment mechanism would encourage more-efficient use of the nation’s roadway network and would reduce congestion costs.”

Borrowers would get a break on interest rates over the open market and the bank would get a steady stream of revenue, according to the plan.

Third:

Any new capacity in the system that meets or exceeds performance targets (presumably set in the second stage) would receive an interest rate subsidy from a Highway Performance Fund, which would be financed by net revenues from the aforementioned Federal Highway Bank. For example, an on-time completion date, congestion and/or pollution reduction, improved capacity safety and equity would be eligible for a subsidy.

The project’s performance would continue to be monitored yearly until the loan is paid off “and bonuses would not be renewed if the project failed to live up to expectations.”

The authors essentially say the status quo is the problem and has to go.

“Federal highway infrastructure spending is allocated based on a series of subjective criteria that typically do not require any stringent analysis of expected benefits versus costs. Because there is often public pressure to build new projects using scarce funds, adding capacity often comes at the expense of supporting and enhancing existing infrastructure,” says the report.

In addition to fewer accidents, injuries, fatalities, travel time and damage to vehicles, more efficient infrastructure investment would mean better industrial organization that promotes trade and competition. “It means more reliability when shipping freight and lower shipping costs; it means that more businesses will build next to each other to take advantage of agglomeration effects.” v

* In its own words, The Hamilton Project (www.brookings.edu/projects/hamiltonproject) says it “seeks to advance America’s promise of opportunity, prosperity and growth. The Project’s economic strategy reflects a judgment that long-term prosperity is best achieved by fostering economic growth and broad participation in that growth, by enhancing individual economic security, and by embracing a role for effective government in making needed public investments.”

Asphalt Works Head to Laramie

Laramie in July is a cool place to be. And for more than 40 years, a conference in this legendary Wyoming town has provided a meeting with a difference for asphalt researchers.

The Western Research Institute’s Petersen Asphalt Research Conference (July 11-13) brings together top researchers, highway officials, producers, some company researchers and other experts working to advance the specification and performance of petroleum asphalts. The Pavement Performance Prediction Symposium (July 14) — organized by the WRI, but sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) — follows the Peterson.

The Petersen is not your routine conference.

Presentations typically precede formal publication of complete research by one or two years. Because no conference proceedings are published, researchers may freely share new results. And a lot of open-mic time leads to far more dialogue than you might find at other conferences.

The conference promotes understanding of how asphalt chemistry, physical properties and interactions affect the performance of asphalt applications throughout their lifecycle, says WRI. Specifications, testing, instrumentation, methods and technology to improve performance are often introduced here, according to the Institute.

If you’re interested, go to

http://www.petersenasphaltconference.org

Caterpillar bold CT660 truck is first of a series

Caterpillar enters the heavy truck market with its CT660.

Caterpillar’s new Class 8 vocational truck is rugged and designed for customization, low cost of ownership and driver comfort, and will be at Cat dealers by this summer, company executives said.

The CT (for Cat Truck) series will eventually encompass several models, but starts with the CT660, with a setback steer axle and a choice of 11- and 13-liter diesels, with a 15-liter engine coming later, said Gary Blood, product manager.

Automatic, automated and manual transmissions will be available; the automatic is Cat’s own CX31 six-speed, based on transmissions used in off-road machinery.

CTs will be sold and serviced only by Cat dealers. They are preparing to support the new trucks by stocking parts and tools, and backing up with sales people and technicians. It will be premium priced, like Cat machinery, but customers will see the value that it brings, dealer reps said.

The CT is based on Navistar International’s PayStar severe-service model, will use Navistar diesels and will be built at that company’s factory in Garland, Texas. However, Cat specialists went to great pains to differentiate their new model.

The CT660 will initially be available as a 6×4, with 6×6 and 8×6 axle configurations coming. In early 2013 a CT680 model with a forward-set steer axle will be added, and a cabover is being discussed. Production begins in May and CTs will begin arriving at Cat dealers in June. – Jack Roberts

Barbaccia Wins Neal Award

A Neal Award is the highest accolade a journalist in our business can aspire to. It is the

Holy Grail of Business-to-Business (B2B) magazine awards. And Better Roads executive editor Tina Grady Barbaccia now has one on her desk after the 56th annual Jesse H. Neal Awards ceremony in New York City in March.

Tina Barbaccia

Tina won for Best Subject-Related Series of Articles for her 2010 stories that ran in our Better Bridges sections in February, May, August and November.

One of the most gratifying aspects of her victory is that category title; because it says the excellence of the work was spread throughout the year, that an exceptionally high standard was evident in each of those sections of the magazine. Tina never met a story she wasn’t enthusiastic about, and the articles that made up her winning portfolio are exceptional examples of a passion for old-fashioned hard work designed to bring you a complete, and interesting, story that helps you do your job.

She will value her award, voted on by her peers in our industry, as recognition of journalism extremely well done. But if you know her, if you meet her sometime, and you tell her that her stories are valuable to you and you enjoy them, you’ll make her day just about as much as the Neal Awards committee did.

- John Latta

SAY WHAT?

“Amtrak operates a Soviet-style passenger rail service, with a high rate of subsidization by the taxpayers.”

 - House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman John Mica

Project Delivery Time Coming Down in CA.

John J. Duncan, chairman of the House subcommittee on Highways and Transit, on reducing project delivery time:

“Limited financial resources for transportation infrastructure can be more effectively utilized by speeding up the process for project approval. SAFETEA-LU made small, focused changes to the existing project delivery process and we have seen some improvement in delivery times as our witnesses will testify.

“For example, the State of California participated in the Surface Transportation Project Delivery Pilot Program, which allows FHWA to delegate its responsibilities for NEPA to the state. Through this delegation pilot program, California has been able to shave approximately 17 months off of the approval process for a standard transportation project.”

Snowfightin’

This month’s joint American Public Works Association (APWA) North American Snow and Pacific Northwest Snowfighters’ (PNS) Conference in Spokane, Wash. will bring together winter operations and snowfighting experts and professionals from across the continent.

“When winter weather strikes, it’s the local, state and provincial public works agencies and snowfighters who are at the forefront,” says APWA executive director Peter B. King. “Citizens rely on public works and other first responders for their safety during snowfall, ice storms, power outages and other basic weather events; businesses rely on public works to assure continued economic activity in their local community. The Snow Conference is a place for sharing expertise, lessons learned, and planning for next winter.”

Educational sessions include a wide variety of specific winter maintenance topics, including the advantages and disadvantages of using a private weather service, GIS Integrated Snowplows, pros and cons of fixed anti-icing spray technology (FAST) systems, impact of climate change on highways and airport maintenance, situational readiness, sustainability, and privatization and use of contractors, as well as strategic plan for winter maintenance research.

Hire a Hero

Need to hire someone? With unemployment as high as it is in the construction industries, there will be a lot of contenders. Maybe it’s a job that must have a set of specific skills. But maybe it’s a job where you could help a hero get back on his/her feet.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is working with the USO and Hire Heroes USA to host transition workshops and career opportunity days for wounded, ill, or injured military personnel and their families.

The work begins with “career opportunity days” starting at both Fort Carson, Col., and Fort Belvoir, Va., this spring and at other locations in the second half of the year. The idea is that these will be personal meetings, so that job seekers don’t have to face the potentially intimidating environment of trade fairs or other public options. The new partnership will also offer resources to job candidates to help them re-integrate into the community.

“By reaching out to local military commanders, partnering with American companies that have a nationwide presence, and energizing our extensive network of state and local chambers, our hope is to create an environment in which thousands of military veterans and their spouses can find meaningful employment in their home towns and local communities,” said Kevin M. Schmiegel, Lt.Col., USMC (Ret.) and vice president of the U.S. Chamber.