A New Spin on Seeding

Rough terrain! Adverse weather conditions! Deadlines! Not the best place or time to be seeding.

But, when you've got more than 625 miles of pipe to put down in eastern Ohio as part of Spread K of the Rockies Express Pipeline, you better find a way to seed.

Price Gregory's Paul Cumbie found a way without spinning his wheels. He got a helicopter to spin its rotors.

And in less than two days seeding was completed on more than 30 miles of the right-of-way workers had been attempting to complete for three-and-a-half weeks.

 

Officials discuss economic benefits of Rockies Express (REX) Pipeline

Discussing the value of the REX Pipeline at a recent press conference near Wilmington, Ohio are: (l-r) Steward Bert Milhone, Legislative Representative Mark Totman, Governor Ted Strickland, District 4 members Sherman Massie and Mike Black, Business Manager Pat Sink, Doug Walker, President of REX Pipeline, and Allen Fore, Director of Community Relations, REX Pipeline.

Governor Strickland (center) with Price Gregory Superintendant Terry McDaniel and Local 18 Steward Bert Milhone.

REX President Doug Walker discusses the economic benefit of the pipeline construction.

 

Orange barrels blossom slowly

Friday, April 3, 2009
By James Nash
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

In this springtime of economic stimulus, you might expect to see orange barrels and bulldozers along Ohio highways as the state gears up for a record-breaking construction season.

But you would be wrong, says the head of the union representing highway engineers.

"It's been all talk, government-wise: stimulus, stimulus, stimulus," said Patrick L. Sink, business manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 18. "The pace of awarding the work has been at a record low pace."

Just before midnight Wednesday, Gov. Ted Strickland signed a two-year, $9.2 billion budget for the state's Transportation and Public Safety departments, which includes $1.9 billion in federal stimulus money.

Strickland and the budget's supporters in the legislature hailed it as a shot in the arm for the state's ailing economy, as well as an opportunity to fix roads, bridges and ports. Strickland's office said the budget will create or retain at least 20,000 jobs.

Sink, whose 15,000 members would be in line for some of those jobs, said he'd expect to see a spate of projects being submitted for bids by now.

"The frustrating part is, you know the money is there, and the project is still not being let," he said. "It's the first time we've seen this kind of bottleneck."

The Ohio Department of Transportation denies that there's any delay in starting its road projects this spring. Although there's some roadwork in progress, the season of major projects is scheduled to begin in earnest next week.

"This construction season is one in which we know we will have more than 650 projects around the state," said Scott Varner, spokesman for the agency. "We're investing historic levels of dollars in construction and capital investments."

The state expects to spend $2 billion on roadwork in the budget year beginning July 1, of which more than $600 million is federal stimulus money. That's down slightly from the current fiscal year, when the state is expecting to spend $2.1 billion, including more than $300 million in federal stimulus funds.

Still, the $2 billion in construction is up considerably from non-stimulus years, when spending has ranged from $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion in the past five years.

State officials are doing a good job launching road projects, considering that President Barack Obama signed the federal stimulus act in mid-February, said Chris Runyan, president of the Ohio Contractors Association.

"We'd all love to see it come as quickly as possible," he said. "We're burning daylight."

Runyan said road contractors are more concerned that after the initial burst of stimulus-funded roadwork projects will dry up later this year.

In signing the transportation budget at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, Strickland did veto 13 items, including:

  • A provision that would have required state and local governments to reimburse utilities for costs they incur in moving gas and electrical lines and other infrastructure for stimulus projects.
  • A requirement that the Ohio Department of Transportation establish speed transition zones when the posted speed limit decreases by 20 mph or more. Strickland said each transition zone would have cost at least $500.
  • A prohibition on state transportation officials erecting guardrails that interfere with access to private property. Strickland wrote that the guardrails are used in very limited circumstances where necessary for safety.
  • A provision requiring the Ohio Department of Transportation to allow a curb cut on Rt. 91 near Vine Street in Lake County. Strickland wrote that the state transportation agency, not lawmakers, should make that call.

 

Rockies Express Pipeline Means Jobs for Our Members, Increased Revenues for Muskingum County

Letter from Pat Sink (in PDF format)

 

Crane work in Columbus makes news

Tim Parsley checks the bolts on his 300-foot-high tower crane, similar to the one in the background, as it hovers over the Nationwide Children's Hospital construction site.

Parsley, a crane operator for 21 years, guides the machine over the 12-story, 700,000 square-foot expansion. The work is scheduled for completion in 2012. To see a slide show, click here.

The images were photographed by Columbus Dispatch Photographer/Doral Chenoweth.