Officials warned Wednesday that the bridge linking the California cities of San Francisco and Oakland will likely remain closed Thursday morning, promising more delays for Bay Area commuters.
The idea of making money from used auto parts conjures up images of thugs in chop shops tearing apart fancy stolen cars. But auto salvage is a perfectly respectable business, and Chicago-based LKQ has turned scavenging into a science. Since 1998 a group of former Waste Management executives have been revolutionizing a mom-and-pop industry by rolling up dozens of scrap yards that turn junkers into usable parts, and convincing insurance companies and body shops that recycled parts are just as good as ones straight from the manufacturer. After the company went public in 2003 the stock returned better than 500% through its peak early last year, landing LKQ (the name stands for Like Kind and Quality) at No. 58 on our 2008 Fastest-Growing Companies list. "Basically, they've got thousands of acres with a bunch of cars lying around," says analyst John R. Henderson of Morgan Keegan. "But there's a lot of money in ripping them apart."
More Americans are expected to travel by car this holiday season - an estimated 2.5% more than last year or 27 million people. And, even though gas has jumped by 30 cents a gallon over the past month, it's still far below last summer's $4 a gallon price levels.
Federal regulators said support plates that were about half as thick as they should have been were the likely cause of the August 1, 2007, bridge collapse in Minnesota that killed 13 people and injured 145.
Millions of California motorists have had to put down their cell phones or risk a ticket as a new law takes effect requiring hands-free devices for those behind the wheel
Officials warned Wednesday that the bridge linking the California cities of San Francisco and Oakland will likely remain closed Thursday morning, promising more delays for Bay Area commuters.
The idea of making money from used auto parts conjures up images of thugs in chop shops tearing apart fancy stolen cars. But auto salvage is a perfectly respectable business, and Chicago-based LKQ has turned scavenging into a science. Since 1998 a group of former Waste Management executives have been revolutionizing a mom-and-pop industry by rolling up dozens of scrap yards that turn junkers into usable parts, and convincing insurance companies and body shops that recycled parts are just as good as ones straight from the manufacturer. After the company went public in 2003 the stock returned better than 500% through its peak early last year, landing LKQ (the name stands for Like Kind and Quality) at No. 58 on our 2008 Fastest-Growing Companies list. "Basically, they've got thousands of acres with a bunch of cars lying around," says analyst John R. Henderson of Morgan Keegan. "But there's a lot of money in ripping them apart."
More Americans are expected to travel by car this holiday season - an estimated 2.5% more than last year or 27 million people. And, even though gas has jumped by 30 cents a gallon over the past month, it's still far below last summer's $4 a gallon price levels.
Federal regulators said support plates that were about half as thick as they should have been were the likely cause of the August 1, 2007, bridge collapse in Minnesota that killed 13 people and injured 145.
Millions of California motorists have had to put down their cell phones or risk a ticket as a new law takes effect requiring hands-free devices for those behind the wheel
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters notified state transportation departments Thursday to immediately inspect all bridges of the same design as the one that collapsed Wednesday in Minnesota.
Investigators trying to figure out what caused Wednesday's massive bridge collapse are focusing on the southern end of the span, which "behaved differently" as it fell, the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday.
Nearly a quarter of the nation's roughly 600,000 major bridges carry more traffic than they were designed to bear, according to reports based on federal government data.
In a few days we're all going to be hitting the road to visit friends and family. This year 83 percent of holiday travelers are going to be piling into their cars.
TO READ the headlines, America the Beautiful has turned into a beast: ten or more may be dead in bridge fall. america is buckling and leaking. garbage barge earth. gridlock! In December, New York C...
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