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.”