The construction industry in Washington state is unprepared to meet a new rule that will require about 10,000 cranes to be inspected by Jan. 1, 2010. The new rule also requires operators to pass a state drug-and-skills exam. Photo: TEQNE On Jan. 1, 2010, mobile and tower cranes operating on construction sites in Washington state will require a thorough inspection at least once a year. “Crane operators have been busy,” says Hector Castro, a spokesman for the state’s Dept. of Labor & Industries. “The lag has been with the cranes themselves.” So far, only 700 out of an estimated 10,000

Dan Klingberg, president of Joliet, Ill.-based T.J. Lambrecht Construction Co., took control of the world’s first diesel-electric bulldozer and says he will put it to use on a project at O’Hare International Airport next month. Caterpillar Inc.’s Vice Chairman and CEO-Elect Douglas R. Oberhelman (pictured, at left) on Dec. 22 handed over the keys to the world’s first diesel-electric bulldozer. Related Links: Video: Big Electric Cat World’s First ‘Hybrid’ Dozer Keeps Up with Bigger Cats Klingsberg took the keys from Caterpillar Inc.’s Vice Chairman and CEO-Elect Douglas R. Oberhelman on Dec. 22 at the manufacturer’s East Peoria tractor plant and

Nationwide research is firming up the case for “intelligent” compaction, a construction method three decades in the making that could save billions of dollars a year in potholed roads, cracked bridges, broken dams and blown-out tires. But as it represents a huge cultural shift in project delivery, the industry is struggling to find a standard way to roll it out. IC in its simplest form is an onboard measuring device that shows roller operators whether they are overcompacting, undercompacting or right on target in soil, aggregate and asphalt. Photo courtesy Iowa State University. David White, a professor at Iowa State

The construction industry in Washington state is not ready to meet a new rule that will require some 10,000 cranes there to be inspected and certified by a licensed inspector by Jan. 1. Photo: Teqne New rules will soon hit Washington cranes, such as this one that was shut down last year for alleged deficiencies. The crane's owner has since settled with the state. Related Links: Crane Anxiety Towers From Coast to Coast California Enforces Standardized Testing Partial Settlement Announced For 2006 Fatal Crane Collapse Crane Failures Foul Up Texas' Already-Poor Safety Record "Crane operators have been busy," says Hector

An article titled the “Fireless Furnace” appeared in the Oct. 25, 1948, issue of LIFE magazine. There, postwar America witnessed the emergence of a futuristic technology that Lord Kelvin, the king of cold, only dreamed about a century earlier. The fireless furnace avoided burning fossil fuels by piping water through coils in the ground and then through a heat pump. But the technology was too expensive—about $3,000 installed—and too new to gain acceptance. “However, as the efficiency of getting heat from the earth improves, it is almost certain that eventually the heat pump will be able to compete successfully with

The cause of yesterday's failure of a JLG boom lift on the site of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, under construction in downtown Kansas City, Mo., is not yet clear, says Dan Euston, president of local general contractor J.E. Dunn Construction Co. Photo: Ed Sturga/AP An investigator photographs lift involved in fatal accident. Related Links: K.C. Lift Tips Philly Lift Victim Was Experienced Blog: Dissecting the Philly Lift Video: JLG's New Featherweight Lift "We're just in the beginning throes of the investigation," Euston told ENR on Nov. 11. The accident has project officials "scratching our heads," he says.

JLG has reinvented the aerial work platform with its new LiftPod, which sets up in about 30 seconds, offers 14 ft of working height and weighs just 145 lb. Last month, ENR tried out the featherweight lift while it made a stop near Chicago as part of JLG’s national road show. Related Links: The New Ladder? Featherweight Lift Introduced last year, the LiftPod is McConnelsburg, Pa.-based JLG’s answer to short-to-medium ladders. It hauls easily in a pickup truck and has few moving parts. A 63-lb base, 49-lb mast and 33-lb basket comprise the basic unit; it can be assembled by

More than seventeen years after the so-called Great Chicago Flood—a 1992 construction snafu in which a misplaced piling that was driven into the Chicago River hit an abandoned freight tunnel, flooding downtown basements and knocking out utilities—those infamous tunnels are at it again. Slide Show Photo: IDOT On the morning of Oct. 14, construction workers on Chicago’s Kennedy Expressway noticed that pavement was buckling. Directly underneath, workers were grouting an abandoned freight tunnel. On Oct. 14, workers for Lorig Construction, a Des Plaines, Ill.-based roadbuilder, were preparing to finish grouting a section of old tunnels underneath the Kennedy Expressway, a

Federal safety regulators in Philadelphia are eyeing a fiber-reinforced sidewalk vault cover as the smoking gun that caused an aerial work platform (AWP) to tip over, killing the operator and injuring three bystanders. The accident also is raising eyebrows over the proper use of AWPs and whether or not they are regulated vigorously enough. Photo: AP/Widewold Investigators are eyeing a Comcast vault cover as the smoking gun that caused a 20-ton aerial work platform in Philadelphia to tip over. On Oct. 12 in downtown Philadelphia, 41-year-old James Wilson was using the 125-ft-tall AWP to inspect the facade of the city’s

Tom Commings needed a job. Over the past summer, the 35-year old resident of Dearborn Homes, a wornout, public-housing complex on Chicago’s South Side, was laid off from a factory job. Relief came this September in the form of a $28.2-million infusion of federal stimulus funds aimed at upgrading three of Dearborn’s 16 brick apartment buildings. Commings now is working as a laborers’ union Local 4 apprentice steps away from his front door. “It’s hard work, but it’s good work,” says Commings. “It’s a great opportunity.” Chicago, Ill. Photo: Tudor Van Hampton/ENR Workers pour a concrete driveway for Chicago’s $28.2-million