A 20-year effort to designate an Interstate 14 through five Southern states, providing a link between a dozen military bases, could become a reality if the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that passed the Senate clears the House.

The proposed interstate corridor extends 1,300 miles from Interstate 10 in Texas to Interstate 20 in Augusta, Georgia, passing through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. It would run past military installations and 14 ports. Much of the interstate would use existing roadway to be upgraded to interstate standards and new I-14 signs added.

This map shows the route of the proposed I-14 and the military installations and ports it would run near.Youth Infrastructure CoalitionSupporters say the proposed interstate would enhance military training and increase deployment options. Other benefits, they cite, are improved interstate connections between major cities, boosting economic development in low-income areas along the highway corridor, providing an alternative route for long-haul truck traffic to reduce congestion in other areas and creating a route farther north of the Gulf Coast that is less apt to be closed due to hurricanes and flooding.

Currently, a 25-mile section of I-14 exists in central Texas between Killeen at Fort Hood and Belton, Texas. The section of U.S. 190, which had been built to interstate standards, was added to the interstate system in 2017. The Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition has been working to get incremental designations of the highway for the past 20 years.

The I-14 signs to the left are the first for the new interstate. They were placed in 2017 for a 25-mile stretch in Texas.Gulf Coast Strategic Highway CoalitionThe I-14 amendment to the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed by the Senate was introduced by Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Raphael Warnock of Georgia.

“I applaud my Senate colleagues for supporting this bipartisan amendment to designate future Interstate 14 across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, so we can begin the necessary work to upgrade this road system and connect strategic military installations across our states,” Cruz said.

“This planned route would connect military installations across Georgia and drive economic opportunities to our rural communities,” Warnock added.

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Five road projects have won awards from the Northeast Association of State Transportation Officials.

The winners are as follows:

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation — Ohiopyle Multimodal Gateway project (Quality of Life/Community Development, Small category) (See photo at the top of this story.)

To address safety concerns and increased congestion, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation completed a $177.5 million project that improved the Spaulding Turnpike from Exit 1 in Newington, across the Little Bay Bridges, to Dover.New Hampshire DOTNew Hampshire Department of Transportation — Spaulding Turnpike Improvements (Quality of Life/Community Development, Medium category)

The $25 million Route 1 Permanent Hard Shoulder Running Project overseen by the New Jersey Department of Transportation improved safety, increased emergency access, increased capacity and travel reliability, and cut commute times by up to 50 percent.New Jersey DOTNew Jersey Department of Transportation — Route 1 Permanent Hard Shoulder Running project (Operations Excellence, Small category)

The Delaware Department of Transportation alleviated traffic congestion and created more transportation options for a Wilmington community by constructing the $82 million Senator Margaret Rose Henry Bridge.Delaware DOTDelaware Department of Transportation — Margaret Rose Henry Bridge and Approach Roads project (Operations Excellence, Medium category)

The New Hampshire Department of Transportation widened a 20-mile segment of I-93. The $755 million project has improved safety and traffic flow.New Hampshire DOTNew Hampshire Department of Transportation — I-93 Expansion project (Operations Excellence, Large category)

This is the second of four regional contests within the national America’s Transportation Awards competition. The three highest-scoring projects from each regional competition earn a place on a “Top 12” list of projects, which will compete for the Grand Prize – selected by an independent panel of industry judges – and the People’s Choice Award, chosen by the public through online voting.

The top two winners also receive $10,000 cash awards, to be donated to a charity or scholarship of the state DOT’s choosing.

The “Top 12 finalists” vying for the Grand Prize and People’s Choice awards will be announced in September, with online voting for the People’s Choice award beginning at the same time.

The winners of both Grand Prize and People’s Choice awards will be announced in October at the AASHTO Annual Meeting in San Diego.

The awards are sponsored by AASHTO, AAA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

 

 

 

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Panasonic continues its year of Toughbook introductions, this time with an eye toward users who not only want the option of a keyboard but also future-proof technology.

A keyboard is only the first of the options on the G2 fully rugged 2-in-1 detachable tablet. There are several add-ons expansion packs or what Panasonic calls xPaks that give the unit functions such as a serial port, thermal camera, barcode reader and a quick-release SSD hard drive. Owners can add this functionality in three modular expansion areas whenever needed since the xPaks are user installed and removed.

The Panasonic Toughbook G2 can be operated solely in tablet form or be paired with a keyboard.Panasonic“No other table has this modular expansion pack approach,” Anthony Mungiello, Toughbook senior product manager, tells Equipment World. “You can get a total of 36 combinations between the three expansion areas. This gives people flexibility, helps future proof the G2, and they can add any of these xPaks at any time.” Contractors can also share xPaks among several users.

The G2’s 10.1-inch display is available with Windows 10 Pro; the unit has an 18.5-hour battery life. It also has three programmable buttons to quickly access commonly used applications or shortcuts. Working in landscape mode, one of the programmable buttons is located on the right-hand side of the tablet, making it easy to use as a camera or scanner.

“If you have a barcode scanner, for example, you can program one of your buttons to immediately go to the scanner,” Mungiello says.

And all of this comes with the baked-in ruggedness Panasonic has spent the past 25 years developing in its Toughbooks. In part because of this legacy, the company is making the G2 backward compatible with docking stations on the Toughbook 20, which came out in 2015, and the Toughbook G1, which came out in 2013.

“We know there are thousands of devices out there that are mounted in work vehicles, and being able to reuse those docking stations is a huge cost savings,” says Alex Nollmann, Panasonic’s director of public sector.

The G2’s heat management should be of particular interest to contractors, Nollmann says. “It can easily be in direct sunlight on a hot day. The device handles extreme heat.” Panasonic’s use of thermal piping keeps the processor from overheating and does not impact the integrity of the unit, he says.

Contractors might also be attracted to the G2’s screen brightness – or lack thereof. “We’ve been known for years for having extremely bright screens, but it’s also becoming more important to have dim screens as crews work at night,” Nollmann says. “You don’t want a 1,000-nit screen affecting their night vision on the side of the road.”

The G2 can go down to 2 nits, which almost appears as a black screen except in a complete blackout environment. More important, it has a night vision mode that turns the screen a red hue, taking out the whites and blues, enabling users to look at the screen and then at the surrounding environment without losing night vision. Users can activate this feature manually or have it come on automatically as it senses ambient light.

Nollmann also says the G2’s speakers are four times louder than previous models, making it easier to hear on noisy construction sites.

With the 2-in-1 design, the G2 can be used as a tablet or laptop. It uses Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 and has 16 GB to 32 GB of memory. The 2.9-pound basic tablet starts at $2,999, with xPaks and keyboard sold separately. The keyboard adds another 2 pounds.

“Dual SIM (physical and eSIM) is actually innovative in the rugged space,” Mungiello says. Using eSIM, users can easily install SIMs on multiple units, and they don’t have to worry about the SIM card coming loose in a vibration-intense environment.

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EquipmentShare says its new $230 million funding will help it launch its core T3 construction operating system and expand its suite of technology solutions.

“We are eager to leverage this milestone round to launch several initiatives, with the continued goal of empowering contractors and accelerating productivity in construction,” says Willy Schlacks, EquipmentShare president and co-founder.

The company says it will soon launch T3, a solution that digitizes and connects assets, people and materials. T3 will “give contractors real-time visibility into parts of the jobsite that are historically difficult to track and manage,” it says.

In addition, Columbia, Missouri-based EquipmentShare says it plans to significantly increase its footprint in the U.S. in 2021 and grow its total presence to more than 100 locations, including rental, retail and service. It now says it’s hiring 100 new employees a month. 

The funding round was led by Tiger Global Management, The Spruce House Partnership and RedBird Capital Partners. Addition participation came from Tru Arrow Partners and EquipmentShare’s existing investorsRomulus, Insight Partners and Anchorage Capital Group. 

tlas Copco adds Caisson Consultant

Atlas Copco

Caisson Consultant has been named a dealer for Atlas Copco Power Technique.

Caisson will provide sales, service warranty and application knowledge for Atlas Copco’s DrillAir high-pressure air compressors.

Incorporated in 2004, Caisson provides foundation equipment in the Ontario, Canada region, focusing on foundation drilling and geotechnical market segments. Specializing in piling, anchor, tieback and  limited access machines, it offers technical support, rentals, sales, RPOs, tooling and wear parts. 

Trophy Tractor builds Burleson facility

Trophy Tractor is adding a 28,000-square-foot facility on 13 acres in Burleson, Texas. The new facility will have eight service bays in a climate-controlled shop area, a 5,000-square-foot office space and a parts storage building.

The company specializes in providing new, used and reconditioned haul trucks, loaders, dozers, scrapers, excavators, along with a variety of other earthmoving equipment. 

MANUFACTURERS, SUPPLIERS

Hitachi hires customer care director

Hitachi Construction Machinery Loaders America has hired Marcelo Fazolin as its director of customer care.
In his new position, Fazolin will spearhead Hitachi’s After Sales Solution mission, which includes parts, support services, ConSite fleet management solution, global e-Service platform, remanufacturing and training.
Fazolin comes to Hitachi after global experience in automotive sales channels and supply chains.

Pitts Enterprises founder Andrew Pitts passes

Andrew Pitts Jr.Pitts Enterprises

Andrew Pitts Jr., 90, founder and former CEO of Pitts Enterprises, died on July 16th.

Pitts built his first logging trailer in 1976 and went on to found Pitts Enterprises, which manufactures a variety of forestry trailers, hydraulic elevating loader carrier trailers, open and closed top chip vans and moving floor vans. The company continues as a family business under the leadership of Andrew’s son, Jeff Pitts, who has lead the company as CEO since 2002.

Iron Capital adds RPO option for used equipment

Iron Capital says it is making rental purchase options to its product offerings, designed to fill a gap between rental and purchase options.

The company says the RPO options give contractors the ability to rent with the option to buy that applies a portion of the rental payments towards purchase. Iron Capital says its approach is unique in the North American used equipment market.

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