C&D News

Transportation Act has Road Recyclers Revved Up

The Asphalt Recycling and Reclaiming Association, Annapolis, Md., sees the U.S. Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA 21) as an opportunity for its members. "With the passage of TEA 21, the nation’s highway industry is again poised for an upturn in activity," the organization notes in its outlook for 1999.

The TEA 21 Act was signed by President Clinton in the summer of 1998 after being authored and re-written by both chambers of Congress. The act approved the expenditure of $28.6 billion over six years on the National Highway System. More than $23 billion of that amount has been earmarked for the Interstate highway system.

All that road-building should lead to more concrete and asphalt recycling, the ARRA believes. "Public agencies are stretching their dollars by paying increasing attention to the benefits of recycling and reclaiming their existing asphalt pavements," the organization notes in its outlook message.

Link-Belt Unveils New Facility

Link-Belt Construction Equipment Co. dedicated its new 25,000 square-foot engineering facility expansion at its Lexington, Ky.-based headquarters. The $2.4 million, two-story expansion nearly doubles the previous space, and ushers in what the company is calling a "whole new era" in crane design by which product design integrates itself into a seamless mode of operation with production.

Implementing a modified "Tiger Team" approach, selected Link-Belt personnel from various departments collaborate to create a concurrent product development process. "The emphasis on upfront investigation time and strengthened interaction and collaboration between engineering functional areas has really paid off for us in our quest to improve QCD (quality, cost, delivery) at Link-Belt," says Link-Belt vice president – engineering Dan Quinn.

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