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It will be at least 16 months until PennDOT's Rapid Bridge Replacement project has an effect on local bridges - five in Blair County - under a timeline and

bridge list released by PennDOT officials.

PennDOT officials announced late last year that Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners was awarded an $899 million contract to replace 558 Pennsylvania bridges, including 48 in District 9 - Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Fulton, Huntingdon and Somerset counties.

Through a Rapid Bridge Replacement project, Plenary Walsh and 11 Pennsylvania-based subcontractors - including Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc., a State College company - are scheduled to complete all 558 bridge replacements by 2017.

PennDOT spokeswoman Erin Waters-Trasatt said construction at 58 bridge sites in southwestern and northeastern Pennsylvania is slated to begin this summer.

She said these bridges were selected first because they have low traffic volumes and are similar in design.

"The team has come up with a schedule that they thought would be most efficient," Waters-Trasatt said, adding that bridges can range in size from eight to more than 360 feet.

Waters-Trasatt said similar bridges in location and size were grouped to increase productivity.

Some bridge parts likely will be created offsite to speed up the process, she said.

Ralph DeStefano, District 9 bridge engineer, said all 48 district bridges were classified as structurally deficient - meaning they ranked poorly during bridge inspections and are in need of improvement.

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Five Blair, nine Bedford bridges to be replaced

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TAMPA Hillsborough County Tax Collector Doug Belden has chosen the Tampa neighborhood of Drew Park to build a new service center where customers can get drivers licenses, birth certificates and concealed weapons permits.

Construction of the new 25,000-square-foot building is expected to begin next month at 4100 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Belden said the office will be open for business in September.

The new building will replace the tax collectors office at the Lowes and Target shopping center at 6283 W. Waters Ave.

Belden said he is saving taxpayers between $1.5 million and $2 million because hes building the new office on state-owned land once occupied by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. As part of a deal Belden worked out with the state, the motor vehicles department will use 5,000 square feet of the new building for administrative work.

Taxpayers also will save about $400,000 a year on rent the tax collector was paying at the Waters Avenue site. He is leasing the land on Martin Luther King Boulevard from the state for a dollar a year.

The new construction is Beldens latest move to expand services and provide them in offices closer to taxpayers. In April, he opened a new office building on county-owned land on Falkenburg Road. By leasing government-owned land at minimal cost for the two newest buildings, Belden said he saved taxpayers $3 million in land acquisition.

The building boom is being driven in part by the Florida Legislatures 2010 mandate that the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles close most of its offices. As a result, many motor vehicle department duties, such as issuing drivers licenses and license plates, are being transferred to county tax collectors.

Written and road tests for new drivers licenses are now being given at the tax collectors office on East Hillsborough Avenue. Belden said his office leases the East Hillsborough site for $350 a year.

Eventually the road tests will be given at two other locations, one in Plant City and the other in south Hillsborough.

We want to geographically cover all of Hillsborough County, Belden said.

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Tax collector to add Drew Park office

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San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) January 22, 2015

Christopher Wells Construction, a bay area remodeling contractor, recently addressed the ongoing need for San Francisco buildings to be evaluated for earthquake preparedness in 2015, based on San Francisco's Mandatory Seismic Retrofit Program Ordinance.

As of October 6, 2014 there were approximately 500 property owners who had not submitted their screening forms for the program, according to the Department of Building Inspection.

It's a new year, 2015, and many residences, called soft-story homes for having a weaker first floor, could be at risk of collapsing when the next big earthquake strikes, Wells said. "Bay Area homeowners should be aware of the risks involved in having a home that is not earthquake-prepared. We only need to look at what happened in nearby Napa in 2014. The Napa earthquake resulted in financial losses totaling close to a billion dollars, and more than 100 buildings were deemed unsafe to inhabit. And surprisingly, just two days ago a 4.4 magnitude quake hit San Benito County, which is only a few hours south of San Francisco."

There is a lesson to be learned for San Francisco homeowners," Wells went on. "For those with San Francisco properties at risk for earthquake damage, make 2015 a safer year by having your home evaluated for seismic strengthening.

In fact, the likelihood of an earthquake measuring 6.7 or greater striking the Bay Area in the next 25 years is 63%, according to the US Geological Survey. Wells said this should raise two urgent questions for homeowners: First, how can I get the information I need to make informed decisions when the next tremor strikes? And second, what can I do to protect my home from being seriously damaged?

The voluntary strengthening ordinance (AB 094) was passed in 2010; it applies to buildings with less than five residential units. Larger buildings fall under San Francisco's 2013 Mandatory Seismic Retrofit Program for Soft Story Wood Frame Buildings. This ordinance applies to buildings with two or more stories which contains five or more units. Property homeowners were required to complete a screening form by September 15, 2014.

Wells added that the problem is most SF homes were built long before earthquake ordinances were mandated. The cripple walls, the short stud walls between the floor and foundation (the crawl space) need to be shear walled, or braced, with plywood. This will stop a home from sliding off its foundation, he explained. What you are doing is strengthening the weakest part of a building, which gets hit by the greatest force during an earthquake.

How do you detect if your home is a soft-story building? Wells pointed to several criteria listed in the 2010 ordinance that would indicate a need for voluntary strengthening. Among the criteria:

San Francisco Department of Building Inspection offers specific incentives in the form of a cost break and expediting the building permanent process that are explained in the 2010 ordinance. These are two very good reasons for homeowners to move forward with voluntary seismic strengthening.

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Originally published January 23, 2015 at 5:24 PM | Page modified January 24, 2015 at 10:02 AM

In less than a decade, Seattle-based Zillow has become the nations leading brand for homebuyer real-estate information. Its become synonymous with looking up your homes value or someone elses.

In a forthcoming book, Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate, Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff and chief economist Stan Humphries offer some surprising answers backed by data to a range of housing questions. Among them:

Should Congress eliminate the current mortgage-interest tax deduction? (Yes)

Should the government subsidize homeownership for low-income families? (No)

To boost your homes value, is it better to remodel your bathroom or your kitchen? (Bathroom)

Along the way, Rascoff and Humphries share tips and personal stories, such as why they financed their homes with adjustable-rate mortgages instead of conventional fixed-rate ones.

As you might expect from Zillow, each chapter in the 253-page book highlights key points with charts and tables. But the authors intentionally kept each chapter short (nine pages, on average). The writing is fun, accessible and human. Plus, for you real-estate addicts, there are photos of famous homes from real life and television.

What we tried to capture in the book was the spirit of real estate, Rascoff said in an interview.

Just as the firms name is an amalgam of the quantitative zillions (as in lots of data points) and qualitative pillows (where you rest your head), the book approaches questions about buying, selling and renting with both data and storytelling.

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Zillow execs follow housing data to surprising conclusions

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Pittsburgh, PA (PRWEB) January 23, 2015

For those whose life's work takes them to the roofs of houses and buildings, they might be interested in a way to make that work a little easier. An inventor from Akron, Ohio, has conceived of a device that does just that.

He developed Roof Mate to save time and effort when working on a roof replacement. Furthermore, it provides a much safer method for roof replacements by helping to transport shingles and debris removed from a roof. What's more, it is convenient and easy to operate, maintain and store. Besides that, it is sturdy to withstand wear and tear. It is also efficient, lightweight and easy to transport. In addition, its simple design minimizes production costs.

The inventor's inspiration for the idea came from his work. "I tried it out on a roofing job and found it made the work of transporting used shingles and other materials much easier and safer than the older more labor-intensive method," he said. The idea is patent pending.

The original design was submitted to the Cleveland office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 12-CLC-5046, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com - http://www.youtube.com/user/inventhelp.

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Mobile Aid for Roofing Jobs Invented by InventHelp Client (CLC-5046)

SEBRING Her roof has leaked for years, Sheriff Susan Benton said.

Its been running down the walls in the jail, the kitchen... The part were most concerned about is dispatch, Benton said. Thats where hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of 911 radios, telephones and computers are housed. Its in the worst condition. Its the oldest.

One problem: 32 air conditioners are mounted on the roof, and some arent at the proper height.

We may have to rebuild that part, Benton said. Weve already met with the Motorola guy. The antenna may have to be remounted.

Replacing the sheriffs office roof will be so complex, Highlands County commissioners hired HDR, a Fort Myers architect, on Tuesday, just to design the re-roofing specifications. The fee: $31,550.

As for the roof replacement, Facilities Management Director David Flowers has estimated $260,000.

And thats for one section.

Because the sheriffs office was built with three additions over the decades, there are four roofs. And that could make the total replacement as high as $1 million.

I dont have any idea what that will cost, Commission Chair Ron Handley said. Thats why we need to have someone come up with a set of specs.

Commissioner Don Elwell questioned the architects fee. Would $31,500 produce design specifications for all four roofs?

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Architect hired for roof replacement