Is Population Growth Recipe for Gridlocked Nation?
The U.S. population officially hit 300 million in mid-October
when the Census Bureau's population clock rolled over to that
figure. It represented a 50 percent increase since 1968, when
the population stood at 200 million.
During that same time, according to the Washington, D.C.-based
American Road & Transportation Builders Association, the
number of vehicle miles traveled on the nation's highways
has almost tripled, from one trillion to three trillion.
But the number of lane miles of highway capacity has only
grown only 12 percent.
What are the impacts of this growth on America's transportation
network?
The number of vehicles traveling every day on each lane-mile
of road in the U.S. has grown from 371 vehicles in 1968 to
1,015 vehicles today.
The average traveler in the U.S. spends 48 hours per year,
or six full working days, in traffic delays. By comparison,
in 1968, travelers spent less than 16 hours per year in traffic
delays.
The Census Bureau projects the U.S. population will hit 400
million people by 2043.
Between now and 2043 based on current, highway capacity will
only grow nine percent, ARTBA says, but traffic levels will
swell by 135 percent to more than seven trillion vehicle miles
traveled annually. As a result, the average motorist can expect
to spend 160 hours stuck in traffic delays-the equivalent
of four weeks each year.
It is a recipe for a gridlocked nation, said William Buechner,
ARTBA economist, unless major steps are taken to add new highway
and public transit capacity to accommodate future U.S. growth.
In other news, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal
Highway Administration has awarded a four-year contract to
ARTBA's Transportation Development Foundation to improve and
expand the operations of the National Work Zone Safety Information
Clearinghouse.
The clearinghouse will redesign its Internet Web site using
new technology to add video streaming and conduct on-line
training and conferences, and improve the site's navigability
by allowing users to search multiple databases.
It will also host a bi-annual, national workshop, "Traffic
Management and Work Zone Safety Conference," with the
first to be held Oct. 9-11, 2007, in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.,
in conjunction with Intertraffic North America.
ARTBA-TDF will launch new advertising, marketing, media relations
and other outreach activities to educate the transportation
and construction industries, general public and media about
the new services offered through the clearinghouse.
A board of advisors and technical committee, consisting of
corporate and organization leaders interested in highway safety,
will also be established to provide oversight and guidance
on Clearinghouse operations.
Users can access free information, training program, research
and related services through the Clearinghouse website at
www.wzsafety.org or by calling at 1-888-447-5556.
More than 1,000 people are killed and nearly 40,000 injured
each year in accidents that occur in roadway construction
zones across the United States.
Contracts Awarded for
Missouri Cement Plant
Waltham, Mass.-based Holcim (US) Inc. has announced the
awarding of three contracts for the company's $900 million
St. Genevieve, Mo., cement plant.
A joint venture between St. Louis-based MC Industrial and
Minneapolis-based T.E. Ibberson will design and construct
13 silos. They comprise eight 275-ft.-high, 79-ft.-diameter
concrete silos, two 207-ft.-high, 150-ft.-diameter silos,
two 275-ft.-high, 60-ft.-diameter silos and one 207-ft.-high,
40-ft.-diameter silo.
More than 90,000 cu. yards of concrete will be poured over
the 18-month project, and at peak about 340 workers will
be employed. Completion is anticipated in early 2008.
A design-build contract for the main office building was
awarded to Highland, Ill.-based The Korte Co. for a two-story
concrete tilt-up building.
Finally, Atlanta-based GE Energy will design, supply and
construct a 160-megavolt substation.
The Ste. Genevieve Plant is being constructed approximately
50 mi. south of St. Louis along the Mississippi River.
World Hungry For Cement
Led by an expected 8.5 percent growth in China, world-wide
portland cement consumption will increase 5.6 percent this
year followed by a rise of 5.5 percent in 2007-an average
of nearly 130 million metric tons annually-according to a
new forecast by the Skokie-based Portland Cement Association.
The report cites growth conditions in the developing world,
particularly China, as playing a critical role in consumption
trends. Roughly 20 percent of cement consumption growth will
occur outside of China and the industrialized world, mostly
in other Asian countries, the Middle East, Eastern Europe
and South America.
"While the major developed economies like the U.S. and
Western Europe have generally performed well, world economic
growth has been characterized by buoyant growth outside these
industrial countries," said PCA Chief Economist Ed Sullivan
said.
He predicts the world economy will increase 3.2 percent in
2006, with a 2.9 percent increase expected in 2007.
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