Transportation chief floats Congress highway funding reauthorization proposal

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is sending Congress a transportation bill for consideration as the House and Senate face looming deadlines to avoid the economic uncertainty and job loss that would ensue if the Highway Trust Fund runs out of money this summer.  The GROW AMERICA Act lays the foundation for long-term competitiveness, rebuilding crumbling roads and bridges while providing much-needed certainty for local and state governments and addressing the country’s future needs.

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NCMA, ICPI firm up ICON-Xchange 2015

Source: National Concrete Masonry Association, Herndon, Va.

Concrete masonry and hardscape unit producers, along with machinery, equipment and service providers can mark their calendars for NCMA’s 2015 ICON-Xchange, February 18-19, at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa in San Antonio, Texas.

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Winter-battered construction activity returns to projected levels

Source: McGraw Hill Construction, New York

New construction starts in March advanced 7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $521.4 billion, based on measurements of three major sectors: 1) nonresidential building, which picked up the pace after its lackluster performance at the outset of this year; 2) nonbuilding construction, logging a moderate gain; and, residential building, which settled back as single-family housing remained sluggish.

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Construction Specifications Institute publishes MasterFormat 2014

Source: Construction Specifications Institute, Alexandria, Va.

CSI and Construction Specifications Canada released the 2014 updates to MasterFormat, their flagship product used to organize construction documents for commercial, industrial, and institutional building projects.

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Top LEED critic endorses ICC’s green code development

Sources: American High-Performance Buildings Coalition (AHPBC), New York; CP staff

A group of associations representing a wide range of building and construction industry stakeholders—and frequent critic of methods behind the development of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system—AHPBC issued a statement in support of the International Codes Council (ICC) transparent process for developing the 2015 International green Construction Code (IgCC) as it convened for its expert committee hearings in Memphis.

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