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IN THIS ISSUE:
NEWS LINKS
PAVEMENTS
PROMOTIONS
ASSOCIATION & INDUSTRY NEWS
OPERATIONS, ENVIRONMENTAL, SAFETY & HR
SUSTAINABILITY
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
CALENDAR
 
NEWS LINKS

Beyond fuel and transportation, rising oil prices directly impact street and highway building and maintenance costs, compounding the hundreds of millions of dollars states lose due to outdated bidding policies that favor petroleum-based asphalt over other paving materials, according to a recent report by Portland Cement Association (PCA) Chief Economist Ed Sullivan. He describes how asphalt no longer has a competitive cost advantage compared to concrete at the time projects are bid. As a result, taxpayers take on the risk of increasing asphalt prices and the resulting higher maintenance costs of asphalt roads, PCA contends.

Source: Concrete Products article for March 12, based on a PCA press release. Read more.

 

American Concrete Pavement Association consultant Dick Moore recently discussed the advantages of concrete pavements in an article that appeared in the Reno Gazette Journal. Moore's comments were made in connection with an earlier article detailing the construction of an 8.5-mile portion of the Interstate 580 freeway extension south of Reno. It quoted NDOT Deputy Director Rick Nelson saying a concrete road can last 35 years while asphalt must be overlaid every seven to 10 years. Read more.

 

Public universities and colleges across America spent $11 billion in 2010 and an equal amount in 2011 to build new facilities, according to data from McGraw-Hill Construction. "The cement never dries on a UC campus," said one faculty member, referring to the University of California at San Diego's $2 billion worth of projects in various stages of planning, design and construction.

Source: Concrete SmartBrief e-newsletter which included this March 15 story from The Hechinger Report. Read more.

 

Leave it to ever-trendy Los Angeles to come up with the latest in patio furniture, all made with various mixes of the world's most versatile building material. So pour the margaritas, set them on a table and then recline on your favorite concrete chair.

Source: A March 18 article in The Los Angeles Times. Read more.

 
PAVEMENTS

The four live Webinars representing six Continuing Education Hours plus online exercises and quizzes will be held March 26 through March 29 from noon to 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time on each day. Webinars will be recorded for later viewing if you miss a session. This program provides detailed instruction on how to implement pervious concrete pavements as a solution to reducing stormwater runoff from building sites and other paved areas. Attendees will learn the details of pervious concrete pavement systems, engineering properties and construction techniques.

Reduce Stormwater Runoff Pervious Concrete is a performance engineered concrete with a void system that allows rainwater to percolate through it. When pervious concrete is used for parking areas, streets, plazas and walkways it minimizes stormwater runoff to surrounding streams and lakes and allows for natural filtration to recharge local groundwater supplies. Although pervious concrete has been used in some areas for decades, recent interest in green building and recognition of pervious pavements by the U.S. EPA as a best practice for stormwater management has heightened interest in its use throughout North America.

Its use supports national initiatives such as Cool Communities and Low Impact Development and provides a potential for credit in the LEED® rating system for sustainable building construction. Pervious concrete reduces the need for expensive stormwater drainage and wet pond retention systems, thereby allowing for more economical and beneficial land use.

Topics include: · Economic and Environmental Benefits · Hydrological and Structural Design · Specifications, Mix Design and Test Methods · Construction Techniques · Contractor Certification · Durability and Maintenance · Applications and Case Studies

This course is intended for civil engineers, architects, landscape architects, public works officials and others who design pavements and stormwater management systems. Contractors, product suppliers and land developers will also benefit from this seminar.

Click here for registration options, including NRMCA staff contact.

 
PROMOTIONS

NRMCA technical support staff is now directly providing design recommendations for parking lot Design Assistance Program projects in order to enhance communication and promotion collaboration among NRMCA, members and partners. By providing detailed pavement design and CAD jointing recommendations, the program helps deliver quality parking lot designs to increase the likelihood for more successful concrete projects. In addition to members, state affiliates and other partners, any specifier, business or organization may now submit projects directly to NRMCA.

Design Assistance for NRMCA National Account projects continues to be free regardless of who submits the project. Fees for other projects are set at $150 for parking lots under 100,000 square feet and $350 for larger projects (additional charges may be incurred if all requested project information is not submitted). To encourage NRMCA state affiliates to participate in the program, initial non-National Account project designs will be provided to them without cost.

To learn more about the new Parking Lot Design Assistance Program, view a list of NRMCA National Accounts and download a project application form, click here or contact Amanda Hult at ahult@nrmca.org.

 

At NRMCA’s recently held Annual Convention in Savannah, GA, the national resource director (NRD) team called attendees' attention to various Walmart projects. According to South Central Senior National Resource Director Vance Pool, "Walmart is looking at concrete in a way in which it traditionally has not. Walmart understands all the sustainable benefits of concrete, not to mention the synergy it has seen with concrete and LED lighting."

According to Pool's colleague from the Southeast region, Amy Miller, this new analysis was called at the request of Walmart corporate office. "Walmart realized what NRMCA had been telling it all along: that concrete hasn’t been given a fair opportunity in the marketplace due to the way concrete has been handled through consultants and through the retailer's own unintended signals. It is now analyzing ways to better incorporate use of concrete."

There is much more to come, so stay tuned to E-NEWS or consult with a national resource director for more information, including Amy Miller at amiller@nrmca.org or Vance Pool at vpool@nrmca.org.

 

The Arkansas Ready Mixed Concrete Association (ARMCA) is making progress showing the cost savings and environmental benefits of concrete pavements in streets and local roads (SLR). During a recent presentation held with numerous city and county officials, many municipalities recognized concrete’s value. A parking lot had been flipped on a prior call and now a road appears in the works.

"NRMCA has been supporting ARMCA’s efforts in partnership with the ACPA OK/AR Chapter and PCA’s South-Central region teams," said NRMCA South Central Senior National Resource Director Vance Pool. "To see success so rapidly only confirms that oil pricing has changed the game for 2012. On both the parking lot and street fronts, concrete is winning on first cost. We all have to get the word out to contractors and owners about the new pricing advantages concrete brings. The construction season is upon us and the more people who hear the message, the more pavements will be concrete."

Having presented to city and county officials earlier in the week, Pool also spoke on SLR at the ARMCA convention last week, training larger audiences how to go after that market and stressing the Design Assistance Program for parking lots which is underutilized in most states.

Click here for information on the DAP or contact Vance Pool at vpool@nrmca.org.

 

A week-long promotion effort coordinated by Tom Tietz and Paulette Salisbury of the California Nevada Cement Association delivered numerous positive results, reports NRMCA Senior National Resource Director Jon Hansen.

"We covered many fronts, from meeting with a pervious contractor in the Bay area and then connecting him to a designer via one of the two seminars on Streets and Local Roads, to meeting with National Account clients in Northern California," Hansen said. "I was also invited and spoke at an ACI member meeting on how the NRMCA National Resource Director team use ACI 330 with national clients and the success we are having. A highpoint of the trip was when I reported on NRMCA promotion and other programs to the Board of Directors of the Concrete Promotion Council of Northern California."

For more information, contact Jon Hansen at jhansen@nrmca.org.

 

NRMCA's national resource directors have one Webinar scheduled for the next couple of weeks, so be sure to click on the link for more information or contact NRMCA's Jessica Walgenbach at jwalgenbach@nrmca.org.

 
ASSOCIATION & INDUSTRY NEWS

The preliminary estimate of ready mixed concrete produced in January 2012 is 16.8 million cubic yards. This is 25% higher than that produced in January 2011. Ready mixed concrete production is estimated from cement shipments reported by the U.S. Geological Survey.

*Please note that 2012 data will be updated for NRMCA members on the Web site by early April. The 2011 state information and all state historical trends are now available for NRMCA members via the above link. 

 

The RMC Research & Education Foundation will hold its 2nd Annual Walk for Sustainability in conjunction with NRMCA’s International Concrete Sustainability Conference. The Walk will take place on Wednesday, May 9, starting at 6:30 a.m. Please join us in spreading awareness of how the work of the Foundation is positively impacting the sustainable development initiative, within the concrete and construction industries as well as throughout communities around the United States and abroad.

Your participation and help with raising additional tax-deductible contributions to support the Foundation will allow this great work to continue for years to come. Walkers will have the opportunity to set up their own personal fundraising pages to garner support for their effort.

To register for the Walk or for more information, please visit the Foundation’s dedicated Walk for Sustainability page by clicking here. For more information on the work of the RMC Research & Education Foundation, please visit the Foundation’s Web site at http://www.rmc-foundation.org/ or contact Senior Director Jennifer LeFevre at 240-485-1151 or jlefevre@rmc-foundation.org.

 
OPERATIONS, ENVIRONMENTAL, SAFETY & HR

It’s that time of the year again to submit data for NRMCA's 2012 Fleet Benchmarking Survey. The Operations Task Group developed the Fleet Benchmarking Survey in 1999. The survey is filled out by industry fleet managers and/or financial managers early each year, based on data gathered from the previous calendar year’s performance. The OES Committee regularly reviews and refines the survey in an effort to gather and disseminate the results in as meaningful a report as possible.

The deadline to complete the survey is Sunday, April 1. Please pass this notice on to the responsible parties within your company who can complete this form.

Click here to access the Excel spreadsheet submission form from NRMCA's Web site. For more information, contact NRMCA's Gary Mullings at gmullings@nrmca.org.

 
Naylor, LLC
SUSTAINABILITY

NRMCA’s 7th annual International Concrete Sustainability Conference, to be held May 7-10 at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel, will provide attendees with the latest developments in sustainability standards. LEED 2012, Architecture 2030, the International Green Construction Code, Envision, Greenroads, Life Cycle Assessment and Environment Product Declarations are just a few of the topics that will be discussed during this groundbreaking event. Over 60 world-renowned experts will present the latest developments related to design, specifying, manufacturing, testing, construction, maintenance and research of concrete as they relate to sustainability.

Keynote speakers include:

  • Denis Hayes, president and CEO of Bullitt Foundation, national coordinator of the first Earth Day, will present a comprehensive and visionary view of sustainability coupled with building industry leadership demonstrated by the zero-carbon Cascadia Center in Seattle;
  • Dr. Franz-Josef Ulm, PhD, professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT, will discuss model-based life-cycle assessment for sustainable engineering design;
  • Michael Lepech, assistant professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, will present developing design codes for sustainable concrete ─ perspectives from Europe; and
  • Kathrina Simonen, assistant professor, Department of Architecture, University of Washington, will present on environmental product declarations: U.S. policy, drivers and implications for the concrete industry.

A complete list of speakers and additional details about the conference is available online at www.concretesustainabilityconference.org

 

Steve Sunderman, president of the consulting firm Terrazia, will present Paving the Way to the Triple Bottom Line - Evaluating Your Paving Options For Financial and Environmental Success on Tuesday, March 27, at 4 p.m. Eastern Time. This free Webinar, offered by GreenExpo365.com, provides evidence for why it’s time to consider concrete pavements as a pathway to sustainable development. The Webinar will describe how the "default" paving material for America’s highways, roads and parking lots has been petroleum-based asphalt for far too long.

Considering our current state of affairs and our realization that we need a more sustainable future, Mr. Sunderland will explain how to reevaluate priorities so we can better achieve the triple bottom line of prosperity (saving money), social equity (improve people’s lives) and sustainable environments (environmental stewardship) through the use of pavement alternatives including concrete. Sunderland, LEED AP BD+C, is an architect and a cabinet member of the USGBC Center for Green Schools Committee. The course will offer GBCI and AIA credit.

Click here here for more details.

 
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

To read government affairs-related stories that relate to the ready mixed concrete industry for the week of March 12 - 16, please click here.

If you would like to receive this weekly updated link in a separate e-mail, or if you have questions or comments about the roundup, contact NRMCA’s Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org.

 
PRODUCTS & SERVICES

NRMCA's March Internet Spotlight, good through Tuesday, April 3, is the Highway Safety for Ready Mixed Concrete Drivers (Safety Binder). This CD-based PowerPoint presentation and instructor notes are designed to teach mixer drivers the importance of safety in highway work zones.

Order online today and receive 20% off. Regular member price is $75, Internet Special $60, plus shipping. Please use Discount Code ISMARCH12 to receive the online discount.

 
CALENDAR

*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site.

March 26-29, Online Course
Pervious Concrete—A Stormwater Solution
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

March 27, Webinar
Introduction To Concrete Pavement Analyst
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

April 5, Free Webinar
RMC Research & Education Foundation
Email: Jennifer Lefevre, 888-84-NRMCA, x1151

April 12, Springfield, MO
Implementing Disaster Resilient Construction In Your Community
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

April 12, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

April 16-19, Online Course
Design of Concrete Pavements
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

April 17, Sioux Falls, SD
Implementing Disaster Resilient Construction In Your Community
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

April 19, Denver, CO
Implementing Disaster Resilient Construction In Your Community
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

April 25, Webinar
Effectively Communicating Sustainability
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

April 26, Webinar
ACI 330 R-08 – The Gold Standard of Concrete Parking Lot Design
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

May 7-10, Seattle, WA
International Concrete Sustainability Conference
Email: Lionel Lemay, llemay@nrmca.org

May 15, Pewaukee, WI
Implementing Disaster Resilient Construction In Your Community
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

May 15 - 16, Online Course
Strategy & Support for Managing Dispatch in Tough Times
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

May 17, Louisville, KY
Implementing Disaster Resilient Construction In Your Community
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

May 17, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

May 21-24, Online Course
Life Cycle Assessment of Concrete Structures
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

May 22, Webinar
Re-Entrepreneuring
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

May 23, Nashua, NH
Handling Concrete Specifications, Low Strength Problems and Mixture Submittals
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

May 30, Portsmouth, NH
Implementing Disaster Resilient Construction In Your Community
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

June 6, Webinar
Effectively Communicating Sustainability
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

June 6-8, Denver
Concrete Durability Course
Email: Karen Bean, 888-84-NRMCA, x1168

June 7, Webinar
ACI 330 R-08 – The Gold Standard of Concrete Parking Lot Design
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

June 25-28, Online Course
Concrete's Role in Sustainable Development
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

June 28, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

July 16-19, Online Course
Building Green with Concrete
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

July 26, Webinar
ACI 330 R-08 – The Gold Standard of Concrete Parking Lot Design
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

August 6-9, Online Course
Pervious Concrete—A Stormwater Solution
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

August 9, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

August 14-17, Silver Spring, MD
Plant Manager Certification Course
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

August 27-30, Online Course
Design of Concrete Pavements
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

September 20, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

October 2-5, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP Module I: Concrete 101
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

November 1, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

November 5-9, Silver Spring, MD
Technical Short Course
Email: Karen Bean, 888-84-NRMCA, x1168

November 13-15, Silver Spring, MD
Effective RMC Supervisor Certification
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

December 4-6, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP Module II: Customer Business Knowledge
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

December 4-6, Orlando, FL
Environmental Professional Certification Course for the Ready Mixed Concrete Industry
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

December 11-14, Denver, CO
Plant Manager Certification Course
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

2013

February 19-21, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP Module III: General Business Knowledge
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

March 19-21, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP Module IV: Sales Fundamentals
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

May 12-15, Chicago, IL
Fifth North American Conference on Design and Use of Self-Consolidating Concrete

 

  March 21, 2012
Fritz-Pak Corporation
Marcotte Systems Ltd.
WAM Inc.
Logo NRMCA
900 Spring Street
Silver Spring, MD, 20910
Phone: 301-587-1400 Toll Free: 888-84 NRMCA (846-7622)
Email: info@nrmca.org

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