DOTD shares 2003 Coastal America Award

Louisiana's Cameron Creole Watershed - March Terracing Project received the 2003 Costal America Partnership Award recently at Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge in Bell City.

Emil Frankel, assistant secretary for transportation policy with the U. S. Dept. of Transportation, presented the award to the mulit-agency community project partners.

Working cooperatively on the project were representatives from 16 local, state and national organizations, including DOTD, the Federal Highway Administration, the Cameron Parish Police Jury, Ducks Unlimited, the staff of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Services' Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge and the North American Wetlands Conservation Council.

After improvements were made to LA 27, the Cameron Creole Watershed - Marsh Terracing Project was conceived. Compensation for the wetlands impacts triggered a much larger marsh restoration project than originally conceived.

The duck wing marsh terracing will also reduce coastal wetlands loss from erosion and provide nesting sites for wildlife, such as the mottled duck and American alligator.

Yates gets Shreveport convention center job

W. G. Yates & Sons, Jackson, Miss., was recently awarded the contract for Shreveport's downtown convention center. The contractor expected to begin construction in December.

The final bid was approximately $65 million.

The 300,000-sq.-ft. convention center project will includes 24 percent participation from minority, disadvantaged and women-owned businesses.

Six bids were received for the project, ranging from $63 million to $69 million.

Nearly 19,000 pounds of food donated during Dow/MCA Food Drive

Employees with Dow's Louisiana Operations and the Maintenance Contractors Association (MCA) donated 13,680 pounds of food and $3,460 to local food banks during the site's November 2003 annual food drive.

The money will be used to purchase an equivalent 5,190 pounds of food, bringing the total amount donated to 18,870 pounds.

Recipient food banks that will provide food in the community include Our Brother's Keeper Food Bank in Plaquemine; St. John the Baptist Catholic Church Food Bank in Brusly; Port Allen Food Pantry in Port Allen; St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church Food Pantry in Paincourtville; and the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank in Baton Rouge.

Dow employee Virgie Franques and MCA members Bud Campbell, Westgate, and Tim Fletcher, Petrin, chaired the Food Drive.

Special recognition goes to Dupont Dow Elastomers (DDE) employees for collecting 8,200 pounds of the total. Virginia Guffey and Pennie Rogers led the food drive effort in DDE areas.

Each year, Dow and MCA jointly sponsor the food drive to help re-supply local food banks. MCA companies include Basic, Petrin, Sipco, HBT, ITC, Westgate, Oil Field Plant Maintenance, Hydrochem and J.E. Merit.

Food drive - January 2004

Ray Landry, seated from left, and Lynn Paul Hebert representing the food bank, Dow and MCA employee volunteers. The food drive was chaired by Dow's Virgie Franques, seated center, Westgate's Bud Campbell, kneeling right, and Petrin's Tim Fletcher, back row, just left of truck.

AGC Economic Development Plan pitched to gubernatorial candidates

Louisiana Associated General Contractors CEO Derrell Cohoon and representatives of AGC, the Concrete and Aggregates Association of Louisiana, Louisiana Asphalt Pavement Association, the Ports Association and others recently pitched its economic development plan to every major gubernatorial candidate.

The economic plan recognizes that Louisiana has the potential to become the transportation hub, warehousing hub and secondary production hub (added-value manufacturing) for the country and hemisphere.

AGC's plan calls for the modernization of Louisiana's ports and the improvement of airport cargo capacities, in conjunction with improved roads and rail systems. The plan is the result of the 2002 road and intermodal strategic study required of DOTD by FHWA.

The economic development campaign is funded outside the AGC budget through donations from AGC members and non-members interested in moving the state forward.

Many initial aspects of the campaign have already been accomplished.

AGC said in a written statement that through a series of editorial letters, radio and television spots and public speeches, the public's opinion of needs and the need for increased funding has grown considerably.

At the beginning of the campaign the favorability for increases in user fees stood at only 33 percent, a number that has grown to more than 50 percent in recent polls.

Cohoon said the challenge in 2004 lies in further developing the plan to meet the overall needs of the economic development and each of the regions, convincing other business groups to agree, finally convincing the governor, the legislature and the general public.

"We've come a long way, facing what many termed insurmountable odds, and are continuing to make strong headway," Cohoon said.

Construction Users Roundtable Safety Awards salute Louisiana safety programs

The Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) Construction Industry Safety Excellence (CISE) Awards were presented in November to 20 corporations around the country, three of which are in Louisiana.

Cajun Constructors Inc. of Baton Rouge won a 2003 Constructor Safety Award in Heavy Construction Other than Building. Cajun provides heavy civil and mechanical construction services to petrochemical, refining, water and wastewater treatment, food processing, power and communication industries.

Unique safety program features include:

• a safety professional is assigned to a site whenever there are more than 25 workers
  
• supervisors are trained in accident reduction techniques
  
• employees are trained to survey work areas for hazards.

MMR Group of Baton Rouge won a 2003 Constructor Safety Award in Construction Special Trades. MMR is an instrumentation and electrical contractor in the petrochemical, paper/pulp, power generation, marine, oil/gas production pharmaceutical, manufacturing, food/beverage and air separation markets.

Unique safety program features include:

• safety is a value, rather than a priority subject to change
  
• rewards are given for reporting first-aids & near-misses
  
• safety meetings are held with owners before projects are awarded
  
• drug screening results can be accessed via the Internet from any site in the U.S.

Nichols Construction Co. LLC of Jefferson won a 2003 Constructor Safety Award in Construction Special Trades. Nichols, through its parent company, Turner Industries Holding Company LLC, has a fully staffed safety and health department.

Unique safety program features include:

• task-specific safety information on hazards and precautions through the Job Safety and Health Analysis Program
  
• site safety action plans for job sites; a numerical system evaluates an incident's potential to harm people, property or the environment
  
• subcontractors submit a three-year safety history before being qualified to work

CURT's annual CISE Awards recognize safety leaders in all segments of the construction industry. The competition is open to CURT members, national contractor associations and local construction user councils nationwide.

Entries were judged by a panel of construction and engineering executives who represent major corporations that are among the largest consumers in the construction industry.

Louisiana DOTD opens large bids for TIMED segments

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) received bids on two TIMED (Transportation Infrastructure Model for Economic Development) segments in October.

With a bid received of $6.28 million, James Construction Group Inc. of Baton Rouge was the apparent low bidder on an embankment project between North Hodge and Quitman on U.S. 167.

Construction is scheduled to start on the project in the next several months.

Highway Specialists Inc. was the apparent low bidder, with a bid of $14.7 million, on the State Route in Bernice widening project on U.S. 167. Construction on this segment is also scheduled to begin in the next several months.

"The accelerated schedule of the TIMED Program has DOTD opening bids for construction every month over the next few years to ensure all construction is underway by 2008," said Buddy Porta, DOTD TIMED Program spokesperson.

TIMED is the single largest transportation program in Louisiana history. The $3.5 billion improvement program includes widening 500 miles of state highways to four lanes on 11 project corridors, widening and/or new construction on three major bridges and improvements to both the Port of New Orleans and Louis Armstrong International Airport.

The program is designed to enhance economic development in Louisiana through an investment in transportation projects.

Turner announces Motiva safety milestones

The Turner Company Alliance Team (all Turner Companies) recently achieved significant safety milestones within the Shell/Motiva Alliance located at Convent and Norco.

In August the Turner team achieved 1 million work hours and 11 months without a recordable injury. In addition, the Norco site also reached 1 million work hours and 20 months without a recordable injury.

The Alliance management team includes Troy Bergeron, Alliance manager; Don Featherstone, Convent site manager; Rodney Landry, Norco site manager; David Butler, turnaround manager; and Larry Thyre, turnaround manager.

Turner acknowledged that the positive performance in safety would not have been possible without the commitment and participation from Shell Chemical and Motiva Enterprises' employees across the locations.

Turner Industries is the largest privately owned industrial construction and maintenance organization in Louisiana. The company has a nearly 12,000-member work force.