Dozers hit Strip in fight for funds

Construction equipment workers and business leaders are calling on the federal government to reauthorize transportation funding for road construction, including critical improvements to Interstate 15 in Las Vegas, and to spur a jobs recovery.

With the construction industry in one of its worst periods of depression, Congress needs to act on the Highway Reauthorization Bill, which expires Sept. 30, said Toby Mack, president and chief executive officer of Milwaukee, Wis.-based Associated Equipment Distributors.

Mack said the organization chose Las Vegas -- one of the nation's hardest-hit construction markets -- to launch its national grass-roots campaign, "Start Us Up USA."

Following a 10 a.m. rally today in the Las Vegas Convention Center parking lot at Paradise Road and Convention Center Drive, a caravan of idle heavy construction equipment will parade down the Strip.

Insufficient federal investment in transportation improvements has contributed to a significant decline in construction equipment sales and a loss of about half a million jobs, Mack said. The national unemployment rate for his industry is 37 percent, he said.

The current bill authorizes $40 billion a year for spending on highway projects throughout the country. Congress has deferred action on a 50 percent increase in spending.

"Our message is that's not adequate. The current program is not keeping up with the country's infrastructure needs," Mack said Monday from his Las Vegas hotel. "Primarily, the nation's infrastructure is in horrible shape. It's estimated that half of highway traffic deaths are attributed to inadequate roads."

Don't ask MaryKaye Cashman how much the federal highway spending bill means to her business.

"You've got to be kidding," the chief executive officer of Cashman Equipment said. "Right now, there's just about nothing going on. A simple extension will not give construction and other related businesses the confidence to invest in new equipment or hire people back that have lost jobs in the last one or two years."

Cashman Equipment sales are down 50 percent and the company has laid off 25 percent of its employees, she said.

Cashman said efforts of the government's economic stimulus bill were "negligible," amounting to a couple of resurfacing projects in Las Vegas by contractors that already had workers and equipment.

Meanwhile, work on Interstate 15 between Tropicana Avenue and the Las Vegas Beltway remains unfunded, as well as I-15 north of Craig Road.

"What this industry needs is a longer window of opportunity to gear back up and for the government to find a reliable and predictable source of funding for highway construction," Cashman said.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.