December 2008 Vol. 63 No. 12

Geospatial Holdings has hired Richard (Dick) McDonald as executive vice president of GIS Operations.

Michels’ crews worked 16 hours a day, seven days a week to help restore power to several million people still without power in Louisiana and Texas following Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

<strong>Sidney R. Snider</strong> passed away on Sept. 27, in Clearwater, FL, at the age of 94. Snider served as president of the Distribution Contractors Association in 1968. He retired from the Hallen Construction Co. in 1977 as executive vice president. Snider is survived by his wife of 67 years, Rita; a son, Richard; a daughter, Barbara, and her husband Herb; and two grandsons, Robert and John. Condolences may be sent to Rita at: Summerville at Beckett Lake, 2155 Montclair Rd., Apt. #324, Clearwater, FL 33763.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners and Energy Transfer Partners have entered into a 50/50 joint venture, Fayetteville Express Pipeline (FEP), to develop a new pipeline. The 187-mile pipeline will originate in Conway County, AR, continue eastward through White County, AR, and terminate at an interconnect with Trunkline Gas Company in Quitman County, MS.

Helping teens embark on a construction industry career is the aim of the ConstructMyFuture.com program, which has named the latest winners of its annual scholarships. The program is a cooperative effort of the Associated Equipment Distributors Foundation (AEDF), Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) and Associated General Contractors of America (AGC).

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. announced that it will construct a pipeline that will transport new supplies of natural gas produced from the Barnett Shale in Tarrant and Denton counties in Texas to the Sherman Extension pipeline.

HammerHead Trenchless Equipment has launched a totally redesigned interactive website: www.hammerheadtrenchless.com.

The popular RehabZone will again be a focal point at the annual UCT show (Underground Construction Technology International Conference & Exhibition) for information about pipeline rehabilitation.

Everyone has heard the phrase “competing on a level playing field” in reference to athletics. But working on a level playing field – or job site – can be as important in the utility construction market. And sometimes contractors can achieve this even when a job site’s terrain isn’t level at all.

Establishing any new business is a major decision, and once the company is in operation, guiding it to success means overcoming a variety of challenges and obstacles, many of them unexpected.

Gopal Guthikonda, assistant director of the Engineering Services Program with the Austin Water Utility, Austin, TX, was the guest speaker at the bi-monthly meeting sponsored by the Gulf Coast Trenchless Association (GCTA) held on Oct. 8, in Houston.

Woodward Communications Inc., a Dubuque-based employee-owned multimedia company operating in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, has acquired Two Rivers Marketing, a Des Moines marketing firm specializing in business-to-business communications.

Most people agree that nothing and no one should be taken for granted. But for many, that truth doesn’t become a reality until tragedy strikes – bad things do happen to good people and people’s lives are changed forever.

MasTec Inc. has entered a purchase agreement to acquire Wanzek Construction Inc. for $200 million in cash and the assumption of $15 million in debt.

Bore-Tek currently operates three Ditch Witch horizontal directional drilling (HDD) models: • JT4020 with 40,000 pounds of pullback, 5,000 foot pounds spindle torque and spindle speeds to 250 rpm; • JT7020 which produces 70,000 pounds of pullback, 10,000 foot pounds of spindle torque and spindle speeds to 210 rpm; • JT8020 that develops 80,000 pounds of pullback,10,000 foot pounds of torque and spindle speeds to 210 rpm. Subsite tracking equipment and a variety of Ditch Witch downhole tools are used with all HDD systems.

Atlas Dewatering bypass pumps are customized to suit your application.

Rain for Rent offers end suction, self priming, vacuum assisted centrifugal pumps in sizes ranging from 3 inch suction and discharge connections up to 24 inch.

The PT6TPA, featuring a 50 cfm water tolerant diaphragm vacuum pump, uses an automatic dry priming and re-priming system providing three times more priming power.

The Godwin Dri-Prime 4-inch CD103M automatic priming centrifugal pump is a highly maneuverable portable trash pump with flow capabilities to 1,000 gpm, total dynamic heads to 170 feet and solids handling to 3 inches in diameter.

The next generation of Silent Pump offers high performance, sound attenuation and an environmental containment base.

The RT95 features a John Deere diesel engine that pumps out 99 gross hp.

The Astec RT460 trencher provides extra traction with its four-wheel drive axles with both front and rear limited-slip differentials.

The RT950 ride on trencher boasts a 99-hp Cummins engine with 5-hp bulge to increase performance and productivity of the tractor and attachments.

The Buckeye 9200 Magnum's 55,000 pounds build weight is tough enough to handle trenching chores from Fort St John, British Columbia to Texas and Oklahoma.

Barbco has introduced the first "maxi" rig to its line of horizontal directional drilling equipment.

The Hitachi ZX60USB-3 is a new ultra-short excavator with a swing boom and backfill blade perfect for jobs along walls, guard rails, narrow roads and tight work sites.

The Vermeer RTX750 is the newest addition to the series of utility installation machines featuring the innovative quad-track system.

Powered by a John Deere 110-hp turbocharged diesel engine, the DP-100 has the power to install utilities deeper, faster and more economically.

With its heavy-duty cast-iron construction, alternate self-priming and wet priming capability, this trash pump works efficiently in construction, industrial and wastewater applications.

The 1030 walk-along trencher is designed for residential and short-run commercial service line work lines requiring trenches up to 6 inches wide and 30 inches deep.

Condux offers three types of made-to-order duct rod for light to heavy-duty applications.

Roose Manufacturing Company now has available for larger reels a single reel capacity trailer of 14,000 pounds.

The Astec Maxi-Sneaker Series D delivers 37 hp with a Deutz three-cylinder, liquid-cooled diesel engine.

For fast and efficient cable or conduit installation, the Maxx-Trak MT800 cable/conduit pusher requires fewer placement steps, eliminating the need for a pull line and reducing installation costs.

Frontier Pipeline LLC, based in Somerset, WI, with engineering/administrative offices in Duluth, MN, recently completed a successful project consisting of two parallel crossings for the installation of 48-inch HDPE pipelines under New Haven Harbor in New Haven, CT.

You know a federal rulemaking was complicated when the chairman of the agency in charge admits: “It has been difficult to get this rule right.” That may be an understatement with regard to the final rules on standard of conduct for pipelines which FERC announced on Oct. 16.

The U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) finalized new rules allowing transmission companies to operate pipeline segments in Class 1 locations at 80 percent of specified minimum yield strength (SMYS) of the steel.

After years of waiting, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management finally told the city of Wabash what it needed to do with regards to its stormwater and sanitary sewers.

New sewer monitoring technology will allow Chico, CA, to keep a better eye on its sewer system and better plan ahead, according to interim Assistant City Manager Dennis Beardsley.

Ensuring the water keeps coming in and the sewage keeps flowing out is going to cost residents in the Buffalo suburb of Tonawanda, NY, $3 million over the next few years.

In the ongoing dilemma about what to do about the raw sewage in the Gowanus Canal that runs through South Brooklyn, the city has determined it will repair the flushing tunnel that pumps water from the Buttermilk Channel and turn it off for two years as part of a $300-million cleanup.

The presidential and Congressional elections of 2008 are over. For better or worse, our nation’s course seems set for the next four years. Economic stimulus talk is running rampant again in Washington. God help us, maybe they’ll get it right and make public works, especially underground infrastructure, a key part of any stimulus package? <strong>Second nature</strong>