Category Archives: Features

The ride to success

The ride to success

Chicago Trucking Company Grows Business with Partnership From serving a few surrounding counties to spanning the entire Midwest, Catom Trucking has grown significantly over the years. But it isn’t catchy advertising or feet-on-the pavement sales efforts the construction and aggregates equipment hauling company credits for its success; they believe their customers led the way.

How diverse hiring can help solve the construction labor shortage

How diverse hiring can help solve the construction labor shortage

Source: Caterpillar News March 2021 Jennifer Todd wants to help solve the construction labor shortage while creating opportunities for minorities and women. Here’s how she’s doing it. Meet Jennifer Todd: • Construction business owner • Lawyer • Licensed general engineer • Barrier breaker In many ways, Jennifer’s story is like that of many other successful […]

Monroe Tractor celebrates 70 years and still growing – locally

Monroe Tractor celebrates 70 years and still growing – locally

It began in May 1951 in a 30-by-40-foot cinder block building in Henrietta, NY. When Monroe Tractor’s founder Henry Hansen and his wife Dorothy opened the doors to their family’s Case agriculture dealership they had a mission: “Where courtesy dwells, service excels.” Henry’s vision for the company: “If you take care of the customer, the […]

Felling Trailers provides solar project solution for rental company’s contractor

Felling Trailers provides solar project solution for rental company’s contractor

Recently, a national heavy equipment rental company and longtime customer of Felling Trailers was faced with a dilemma. One of their national accounts, a renewable energy contractor, was working on a solar project that spanned several locations in their coverage area. They needed several heavy-duty triple reel trailers capable of hauling three 97” dia. x […]

Roller screeds: Common questions answered

Roller screeds: Common questions answered

by Seth Ulmer, Curb Roller Manufacturing sales manager Concrete work is nothing new. Contractors have been perfecting the art of concrete pours for many years, combining new technology with their tried-and true methods. By relying on their proven, manual methods and simultaneously implementing new products and technology, contractors are able to improve finished product quality, […]

Determining how much trailers really cost

Determining how much trailers really cost

by Troy Geisler, vice president of sales and marketing, Talbert Manufacturing With a cost on par with the average U.S. home mortgage, heavy-haul trailers represent a significant investment for businesses. The right trailer can provide fast ROI, greater productivity and increased profits. The wrong decision, however, can leave trucking companies with the financial burden of […]

UMA to break NCDOT record for largest square footage of soil nail wall 

UMA to break NCDOT record for largest square footage of soil nail wall 

UMA Geotechnical Construction, a North Carolina-based geotechnical contractor serving the Mid-Atlantic Region, is working on a project that will become the largest square footage of soil nail walls done under a single contract in North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) history. The contractor is on track to construct roughly 115,610 square feet of wall along […]

Enerpac strand jack technology outperforms over traditional crane for Chicago bridge cantilever lift

Enerpac strand jack technology outperforms over traditional crane for Chicago bridge cantilever lift

The recently completed Cline Avenue Bridge in East Chicago crosses the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal. Constructing the 316 ft bridge span over the canal, while keeping the canal open to barge traffic, allowed heavy lift specialist Engineered Rigging to prove the flexibility of their Enerpac strand jack technology over a traditional crane approach to […]

UMA supports South Carolina manufacturer’s expansion with micropiles 

UMA supports South Carolina manufacturer’s expansion with micropiles 

by: Brian M. Fraley, Fraley Construction Marketing  Specialty subcontractors like UMA Geotechnical Construction, Inc. (UMA) rarely get the credit, but the work they do often lays the foundation for stimulating the global supply chain. The North Carolina-based contractor worked two shifts to install more than 300 micropiles to support a fabrication facility addition for a […]

Manitowoc crawler cranes deliver strong performance to wind farm builder IEA Constructors

Manitowoc crawler cranes deliver strong performance to wind farm builder IEA Constructors

Machine wear on cranes is a significant issue for those working in wind energy applications. The installation of turbines usually requires crawler cranes to travel hundreds of miles in the course of an assignment, which will result in proportional wear in their undercarriages. But on a project in Texas, where two Manitowoc MLC650 crawler cranes […]

Hampton Development Services and Diggers LLC transform old gravel pits into lakefront properties in Nebraska

Hampton Development Services and Diggers LLC transform old gravel pits into lakefront properties in Nebraska

Bob Hampton has been a real estate developer for more than 30 years and has developed nearly 25 neighborhoods across Nebraska and Colorado. His latest project is a 200-acre lake development called Flat Water Lake in Valley, NE. “We’re going to have 130 lots and an 80-acre lake,” says Hampton. “And it’s three former gravel […]

Contractor specializes in retention pond conversion

Contractor specializes in retention pond conversion

North Carolina-based Imperial Contracting has built a reputation as a contractor willing to take on the work that other contractors either can’t or won’t do. Their specialty: retention pond construction and conversion in residential and commercial developments. Imperial Contracting attacks the hard jobs with attitude, expertise and a strong respect for what’s possible with the […]

Know your trailer’s true capacity

Know your trailer’s true capacity

By Troy Geisler, vice president of sales and marketing, Talbert Manufacturing A trailer is never just a trailer. It can be manufactured to many different specifications, but the end result should always be an ideal trailer for an operation’s specific loads. To select a trailer that will require the least amount of maintenance, provide the […]

Woman-owned construction company Brex Enterprises setting new standards for safety, customer satisfaction, innovation

Woman-owned construction company Brex Enterprises setting new standards for safety, customer satisfaction, innovation

Source: CONEXPO-CON/AGG 365 Based in Irwin, PA – some 22 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, Brex Enterprises provides pipeline maintenance and services; earthwork and development; trucking and hauling; and right-of-way services. A family business with a history of generations of construction experience, it operates mainly in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and New York. Founded in 2012 […]

W 220 Fi mills road surface 46 cm deep

W 220 Fi mills road surface 46 cm deep

In Illinois, USA, a W 220 Fi large milling machine is being used to remove an entire road surface in just two passes. Thanks to the Mill Assist machine control system, the milling operations are being carried out particularly cost-effectively. In the process, the Wirtgen Performance Tracker is responsible for the job’s precise documentation. Mill Assist plays […]

CA BOMAG Americas dealer & contractor find the perfect match with the new BOMAG AMERICAS CR1030T Paver

CA BOMAG Americas dealer & contractor find the perfect match with the new BOMAG AMERICAS CR1030T Paver

Established in 1972, Hat Creek Construction & Materials, Inc. (Hat Creek) has worked hard to become one of the leading heavy civil contractors in the North State. The scope of their work has them working alongside the California Department of Transportation, state and county municipalities, as well as public and private organizations. Hat Creek also […]

Branz Technologies taps Felling Trailers for portable traffic signal transport solution

Branz Technologies taps Felling Trailers for portable traffic signal transport solution

Branz Technologies, Inc. of Durham, NC, needed to find a better transportation solution for their Hook & Go Portable Traffic Signal System. The company’s Hook & Go System consists of (4) pedestal-mounted traffic signals. The portable systems make traffic control safer with automated traffic signals helping to keep crews and roadway workers as safe as […]

Robotic tunneling

Robotic tunneling

Improving tunneling safety and productivity with remote-controlled machines by Mike Martin, vice president of operations, Brokk, Inc., and Keith Armishaw, business development manager, Aquajet The tunneling industry, like construction overall, is constantly evolving with new innovations to improve speed, safety and quality of work. From advancements in tunneling equipment to new methods of completing old […]

Wirtgen F Series solidifies pole position on Alabama racetrack

Wirtgen F Series solidifies pole position on Alabama racetrack

Two W 210 Fi milling machines from Wirtgen have claimed a wire-to-wire victory at the famous Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL. In the process, the machine owners were extremely impressed by the new generation of large milling machines’ outstanding performance and technological innovations during one of their very first jobs on the North American continent. With […]

UMA scales up production on unusually large soil nail wall

UMA scales up production on unusually large soil nail wall

by Brian M. Fraley, Fraley Construction Marketing  UMA Geotechnical Construction constructed all of the eight required permanent soil nail walls along a roughly two-mile stretch of the Greensboro Western Loop (Interstate 73) project but they were all dwarfed by Wall 4. To be exact, the total project required 76,000 square feet of wall, 42,000 of […]

Full depth recycling

Full depth recycling

In the United States, a Wirtgen recycling train rehabilitated a highway at a depth of 20 cm in a single pass and without blocking the flow of traffic. In the process, the new W 380 CRi demonstrated its unmatched capabilities. The four-lane Highway 123 in Pickens County was the scene of the first full-depth reclamation (FDR) operation […]

Komatsu officially breaks ground for new campus in Milwaukee’s Harbor District

Komatsu officially breaks ground for new campus in Milwaukee’s Harbor District

  MILWAUKEE, WI — Building on its 135-year-legacy in Milwaukee, Komatsu Mining Corp. recently broke ground for its new state-of-the-art headquarters and manufacturing campus in Milwaukee’s Harbor District on east Greenfield Avenue. The company recently finalized the acquisition of two parcels of land totaling nearly 57 acres for the project. Partnering with the State of […]

Great Lakes Dredging sends sediment flying with the Ditch Doctor 

Great Lakes Dredging sends sediment flying with the Ditch Doctor 

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company’s Rivers and Lakes Division was faced with sediment-filled ditches and pockets of connecting standing water on a large dredging project in Argenta, IL. The contractor wanted to consider a new and more efficient approach than the traditional bucket. A unique attachment called the Ditch Doctor turned out the be […]

Tripling up on Port of Wilmington’s refrigerated storage capacity

Tripling up on Port of Wilmington’s refrigerated storage capacity

by Matthew Tilley, Project Engineer at S.T. Wooten Situated on North Carolina’s bustling coastline, the Port of Wilmington has quickly transitioned into the fastest growing port in the country. Thousands of containers pass through the area each year carrying wood products, automotive parts, furniture and other materials. For items that need to stay cold, such […]