Security & Safety Briefs - June 23 - June 29
The Latest Headlines:
- Heat Causing Buckling Roads in Pa.
- Second U.S. Mad Cow Disease Case Confirmed
- L.A. Port Seeks Federal Security Grants
- Second U.S. Mad Cow Disease Case Confirmed
Heat Causing Buckling Roads in Pa.
Abnormally high temperatures have been blamed for causing pavement to buckle on three highways in western Pennsylvania, forcing road crews to make emergency repairs, the Associated Press reported.Crews have been working on roads since early June, when an eastbound lane of the Pennsylvania Turnpike near the Ohio border heaved and buckled in several spots over a two-mile stretch. The lane was closed for three days, AP said.
Since then, road crews also have fixed warped sections of on-ramps to Interstates 79 and 376. All three highways have since reopened, AP reported.
Concrete roadways — poured in slab sections — are designed to expand and contract. If temperatures are too hot for too long, the concrete slabs will swell and push against one another, causing buckles and cracks. Transport Topics
Second U.S. Mad Cow Disease Case Confirmed
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Friday confirmed a second U.S. case of mad cow disease, seven months after officials first suspected the animal might be infected, the Associated Press reported.While exports dipped after the first U.S. mad cow case was discovered in a dairy cow in Washington state in late 2003, U.S. beef consumption increased slightly, although that animal had been imported from Canada.
Exports tumbled from $3.1 billion in 2003 to about $550 million last year, according to the USDA. (Click here for previous coverage.)
Trucking companies that haul beef are likely to see smaller profits because of these bans.
Taiwan, which imported more than $76 million in U.S. beef in 2003, said Saturday it would immediately reimpose a ban on U.S. beef, AP reported.
Published reports indicated the latest case might have originated in Texas, but federal and state authorities would not confirm those reports, AP said. Transport Topics
L.A. Port Seeks Federal Security Grants
The Port of Los Angeles said June 22 it had applied for $30 million in federal grants to implement a series of security measures.The application to the Department of Homeland Security included requests for explosives-detection equipment and to build the next phase of a container-inspection facility in cooperation with the neighboring Port of Long Beach.
The two ports make up the busiest port complex in the United States.
Los Angeles port officials would provide $7.5 million in funding to pay for the remaining cost of the projects. Transport Topics
