Already scrambling for highway funding, state departments of transportation and road contractors now are stymied by a nationwide shortage of pavement-marking paint. Photo: WSDOT Highway contractors are coming up short because of kinks in the road-paint supply chain, thanks to recession and a critical chemical shortage. The source of the shortfall is a mixture of economics, chemistry, production disruptions and international trade, and the result will likely be rationed paint and higher prices through most of the summer—and perhaps beyond. Brian Deery, senior director of the Highway & Transportation Division at the Associated General Contractors of America, says DOTs may
At the site of a new $8.5-million, three-story dormitory at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Okla., the Versa-Floor HR floor system is getting its first real-world application. The prefabricated steel deck is joined and fitted with channels on the ground. Then, the 30 x 30-ft steel panels are lifted into place by a crane. Once connections are made to the structural columns, it’s almost ready for the concrete slab to be poured. “That’s the genius of the system,” says Aaron Ford, project manager on the dormitory project and associate principal with structural engineering firm L.A. Feuss Partners, Dallas. “We build
A structural engineer is poised to be the first to use steel fibers as structural reinforcing in the lateral-force-resisting system of a concrete-framed high-rise in a seismic zone. The application, designed to reduce reinforcing-steel congestion in shear-wall link beams and, perhaps, in shear walls themselves, is based on recent successful performance tests of SFRC link beams at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Photo: Bekaert Corp. Specimen Steel-fiber reinforcing can eliminate 40% of rebar in link beams in seismic frames. Image: Cary Kopczynski & Co. It also allows diagonal rebar to be smaller and more bendable, so it can exit
The warning shot came in a federal court in Louisiana, and it may signal the beginning of the end of one more costly aspect of the homebuilding boom of 2004-2007. Federal Judge Eldon Fallon in New Orleans ordered Taishan Gypsum Co. Ltd. to pay seven Virginia families a total of $2.6 million to remediate defective Chinese-made drywall in their homes. The case is the first of several class-action lawsuits filed against manufacturers of material that has proven to be a veritable nightmare—and source of odors—for thousands of home-owners. + Image Source: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Photo: AP/Wideworld Consumer Product
Owners of homes and other buildings containing Chinese drywall now have a clear directive from the federal government: Tear out "all possible problem drywall" and replace it, the U.S. Consumer Product Commission and Dept. of Housing and Urban Development advised on April 2. Photo: CPSC Homeowners should replace Chinese drywall (slightly gray in color) with new wallboard (white in color), federal agencies say. In addition, owners should replace all electrical systems, gas piping, sprinkler systems, smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms, whose metal components corrode under high levels of hydrogen sulfide. Who will pay for the work remains unclear, but
Four state-owned, multinational Chinese construction companies have been short-listed for a tender to construct an $80-million major cement factory in Ethiopia, at a time when China’s dominance in Africa’s construction industry is growing. The four—Sinoma International, CDI-Chengdu Cement Research Institute, Hefei Cement Research Institute and Northern Heavy Industries—now await a technical and financial evaluation of their engineering, procurement and construction tender documents for the construction of the Habesha Cement factory, which has a projected capacity of 1.2 million tones of cement per year. India’s Walchandnagar, synonymous with sugar production in Ethiopia, is the only other company that was prequalified for
The wheels of justice may grind slowly, but the battle in the court of public opinion was joined in full force on Feb. 18, 10 days after a U.S. District Court unsealed a three-year-old whistleblower claim against a major manufacturer of PVC pipe for utilities. Related Links: PVC Pipe Firm�s False-Claims Suit Unsealed by District Court The claim alleges the company sold to municipal water districts substandard pipe that did not meet industry certifications stamped upon it, from 1997 to 2005, and that the pipe may be prone to breakage and premature failure. Attorneys for JM Eagle, Los Angeles, the
Thanks to an increasing national awareness of infrastructure maintenance issues and the environment, composite materials are gaining support. But acceptance will not occur until regulatory agencies set official standards, say engineers who work with alternatives to traditional materials such as concrete and steel. Habib Dagher, director of the Advanced Structures & Composites Center at the University of Maine, told the Composites 2010 convention on Feb. 9 that until the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials adds codes for bridges using fiber-reinforced polymer materials, they will never be mainstream. Without such a standard to back them up, engineers cannot
A three-year-old “whistle-blower” suit unsealed in a federal district court on Feb. 8 claims that a leading manufacturer of polyvinyl chloride pipe widely used for utility collection and transmission lines falsely claimed its products met the performance specifications of industry regulators. It asserts that up to 50% of the pipe produced between 1997 and late 2005 is susceptible to breakage and premature failure at pressure loads below the labeled rating. Photo: Nevada State Public Works Board Nevada water-main job suffered 10 breaks in one year. State officials had sections tested and reported deficiencies in tensile strength. The manufacturer blamed installation
Has construction finally hit rock bottom? New projects are expected to swing up slightly this year, but the economic fog will not fully lift for another year or two, remarked attendees at this year’s World of Concrete. Photo: Tudor Van Hampton for ENR Fast-handed masons competed for more than $100,000 in cash and prizes in front of 4,000 spectators on Feb. 3 at the World of Concrete. > Photo: Tony Illia for ENR Booth spaces shrunk this year, allowing smaller exhibitors to become more visible. Related Links: Stimulus To Lift Cement in 2010 VIDEO: Masonry at Warp Speed Economy Is