As we near Independence Day, it's a great time to reflect on the Build America, Buy America (BABA) Act.
The BABA standard requires all construction materials on federal infrastructure projects be made in the U.S. This includes products used to build American roads, bridges and highways. If you’re working on a federally-funded project, compliance with applicable BABA requirements
is critical.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is
working hard to provide more details regarding the BABA language included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) legislation.
In the meantime, Insurance Journal offers best practices to help you stay on top of the regulations:
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Get certification from your suppliers. To assure our customers that we currently comply with existing “made in America” provisions for all federally funded airport and highway projects, American Highway provides each with a letter certifying our long-standing commitment to Build America, Buy America.
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Share liability. Construction contracts with subcontractors and suppliers should include language making these parties responsible for the cost of non-compliance with BABA.
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Stay current with changes to the requirements. Laws change frequently. Pay close attention to bulletins issued by federal agencies such as the Office of Management and Budget. Conditions for waivers could change along with the types of construction materials subject to BABA. Exceptions to the rule may also change. While cement and aggregates are not currently included in BABA, that could change.
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Don’t count on a waiver. BABA is in place for a reason, so waivers will not be easy to obtain and are likely to be project- or even product-specific. Perform due diligence, be aware that the timing to implement BABA requirements is not uniform for all federally funded infrastructure projects, and make sure BABA requirements applicable to the project are met.
Failure to comply with applicable BABA requirements can result in the need for removing and replacing completed work at your cost, termination from the contract and potentially even debarment from performing federally funded work.
Producing domestically manufactured and innovative products and solutions is what American Highway has been doing since day one. As we wait for more direction from federal and state officials, American Highway has been proactive—creating our own BABA declaration. Please reach out to your local American Highway representative for help in meeting the BABA requirements.
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Beer-bearing burros and more
at the ACPA Mid-Year Meeting
is the world’s largest trade association that exclusively represents the interests of those involved with the design, construction and preservation of concrete pavements.
We had the pleasure to not only attend the ACPA Mid-Year Meeting recently in Austin, Texas, but also sponsor this year's reception, hosting our many friends and industry colleagues. The highlight of the evening was definitely the beer-bearing burros!
We enjoyed meeting and connecting with the leaders in the concrete pavement industry and gained a lot of valuable
insights from the event.
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Every June, we celebrate National Safety Month. Safety matters every day of the year, but during June it gets the extra attention it deserves. As part of the celebration of safety, the National Safety Council (NSC) selects themes for each week of the month. This year’s focus areas are emergency preparedness; slips, trips, and falls; heat-related illness; and hazard recognition.
Safety is a priority at American Highway. We have a strict protocol regarding Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in our plants and an aggressive schedule to install more guarding, electronic eyes and other machine shut-down systems to protect employees if they get too close to a moving piece of equipment. In addition, we share safety metrics at all company-wide, leadership and operations.
Over the next several weeks, we will spotlight our employees on social media and share the measures they take to ensure safety at work—for themselves and those they work with--including stretching exercises before every shift. Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
American Highway is committed to providing a safe work environment for everyone on our team—today and every day.
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Largest design-build highway project in California history |
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Interstate 405 in Orange County, California, is a heavily traveled thoroughfare by both commuters and freight haulers and has played a crucial role in the development of dozens of cities and suburbs along its route through Los Angeles and Orange counties. As the busiest and most congested freeway in the United States, I-405 was in need of improvements. To address the need, the I-405 Improvement Project opened for bidding in 2016. After two years of design work, the ground broke in mid-2018 with OC 405 Partners, a joint venture of Astaldi and OHL, leading the project.
This design-build project, the largest to be released in Caltrans history, spans 16 miles of the 405, which starts north of the John Wayne Airport and extends north of the 405/605 connector. Once completed, the 405 Improvement Project will allow Orange County to keep pace with expected job, housing and population growth, while providing safe and reliable multimodal travel throughout the region. American Highway was chosen to provide all the load transfer (dowels, welded dowel assemblies, tiebars and tiebar baskets) over the course of this multi-year project. We are proud to be part of building a better future for Orange County residents and visitors.
Check out the video here.
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American Concrete Pavement, Kansas DOT and American Highway joint meeting |
Discussions will include the implementation of IIJA and upcoming
bid letting.
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American Highway visits DOTs across the Midwest |
American Highway will meet with DOTs in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania to discuss the imple,entation of IIJA funding in their respective states and the paving forecast. |
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National Association of Women in Construction Annual Conference |
Many Paths, One Mission celebrates the strides that women have made in the construction industry. The conference, which has both women and men as attendees, features multiple education tracks on leadership, career building and construction trends. |
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14990 Industry Ave.
Becker, MN 55308
P: 763.220.6480
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190 Resource Dr.
Fernley, NV 89408
P: 909.373.1773
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2150 S Us Highway 45 52
Kankakee, IL, 60901
P: 815.936.3300
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