Tag: Iowa construction: Page 2

Concrete workers save 2 children from burning home in Iowa

After seeing signs of fire at a home near their Iowa jobsite, two concrete workers braved the blaze Monday afternoon to save two children. According to a report from the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Travis Moen and Ryan Siems were working on a driveway installation in Evansdale when they noticed a nearby duplex was burning. After attempting to […]

April 8, 2015

The scene of the fire. Credit: Matthew Putney/WCF Courier

Iowa Transportation Commission approves $33 million in new highway and bridge projects

The Iowa Transportation Commission has approved a 2015 Iowa Transportation Improvement Program (ITIP) amendment to add highway and bridge projects for fiscal year 2015, a move made possible by the recent 10-cents-per-gallon gas tax approved by Gov. Terry Branstad. The new projects total $33.2 million, which is the amount expected to be collected for FY […]

March 12, 2015

Interstate 35 in Iowa.

Deficient roads and bridges cost Iowa drivers an extra $2 billion each year

Twenty-seven percent of Iowa’s major urban roads and highways are in poor condition, and 21 percent of the state’s bridges are structurally deficient, according to a report from The Road Improvement Program (TRIP). On Wednesday TRIP released “Iowa’s Top Transportation Challenges: Meeting the State’s Need for Safe and Efficient Mobility” at a press conference at the Iowa State […]

February 19, 2015

Interstate 35 in Iowa

How a heavy equipment operator, mother of two went from no driver’s license to running her own construction crew

“What am I doing here?” That was Patricia Hook’s first question when she arrived at J. Pettiecord two years ago. The mother of two didn’t have a driver’s license or any construction experience, and she looked around the Des Moines, Iowa, contractor’s yard filled with heavy trucks and equipment, and “it kinda scared me.” Despite […]

January 29, 2015

Equipment operator Patricia Hook J. Pettiecord

Shortage of skilled construction workers delays completion of Iowa biofuel plant

An Iowa biofuel plant is the latest major construction project to fall victim to the widespread shortage of skilled workers in the U.S. According to a report from the Ames Tribune, DuPont has delayed the completion date of a cellulosic ethanol plant the company is building in the city of Nevada, Iowa. The $200 million plant, […]

January 15, 2015

Construction in process on the DuPont biofuel plant in Nevada, Iowa.

Iowa contractor takes aim at employee retention and safety with hefty monthly bonus checks

Although still in its early days, a program implemented by J. Pettiecord, Des Moines, Iowa, in September is already having a positive effect. Called the SAAP Monthly Bonus—which stands for Safety, Availability, Attitude and Production—the program rewards employees that meet a few requirements at the end of each month with a bonus check equal to […]

January 12, 2015

Jeff Pettiecord and Nick Wylie with J. Pettiecord, Des Moines, Iowa.

Best of the Best: Here are the 12 finalists in our 2015 Contractor of the Year awards

Equipment World announces its 2015 finalists for the Contractor of the Year program, now in its 15th year. Each of the 12 finalists will be the guest of program sponsor Caterpillar during a event-filled weekend at the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas, including an industry roundtable, awards banquet and attendance at the NASCAR Kobalt Tools […]

December 3, 2014

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Construction workers across U.S. push through blast of Bering Bomb cold snap

After the remnants of a Pacific typhoon sent arctic air across much of the United States last week, temperatures dipped to unseasonable lows across the country, making the jobs of many construction workers that much harder. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, road crews working a project on Highway 27 are used to cold weather, but said the […]

November 16, 2014

The Bering Bomb. A view of the Pacific typhoon that hit Alaskan islands before weakening and sending cold air across the U.S. Credit: NASA

Excavator operator drowns after machine slides into Iowa lake

A worker operating an excavator on the bank of a lake in Iowa drowned last week after his machine slid into the water. According to a report from KWQC TV, the worker, whose name was not released, was operating the excavator on the bank of Lake Mathes in Middletown, Iowa on November 4 when the […]

November 10, 2014

excavator-working-near-water

Construction workers in Iowa save kitten from a dumpster’s doom

While saving cats is typically the work of firefighters, a group of construction workers in Des Moines, Iowa, recently made an exception. According to a report from KCCI, a group of workers was throwing chunks of broken concrete into a dumpster Wednesday when they heard something other than the thud of the concrete. Meowing was […]

October 17, 2014

Credit: KCCI TV

Equipment rollover kills construction worker in Iowa

A construction worker was killed in an apparent rollover accident involving an an unspecified piece of construction equipment in northeast Iowa Tuesday afternoon. Police identified the worker as Daniel Lewis Uhl, 49. According to a report from KTIV TV, Uhl was operating “a large piece of earthmoving equipment” before the machine rolled over and pinned […]

October 8, 2014

The bridge jobsite where Uhl was killed contains slopes and embankments which can prove deadly while operating a piece of heavy equipment. Credit: KTIV

Burning buildings, collapsing freeways: Is our lousy education system to blame for the recent uptick in construction accidents?

Lately there’s been a rash of fires, collapses and accidents at projects “under construction,” all over the country. Here are just three of the more spectacular examples. March, Boston:. A 33-story apartment building under construction pancakes in Boston when a load up top causes the support under it to buckle. April, Des Moines, Iowa: A three […]

May 9, 2014

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