Officials in the Bay Area community of Los Gatos voted to reconstruct two downtown streets with concrete. Despite costing more than asphalt, the Town Council realized the long-term savings associated with choosing concrete.

A North Dakota DOT planning engineer has taken a glance into the future of his state's highways and likes what he sees: driverless cars and self-healing concrete. North Dakota has more than its share of winter weather and Scott Zainhofsky believes that advances in self healing concrete technology will improve the state's roads and DOT budget.

From self healing concrete in North Dakota, NewsLinks brings you a recent article posted by Forbes magazine, where Laurie Winkless discusses efforts around the world to, as she puts it, "green-ify" concrete. Bioreceptive concrete anyone?

In its continuing effort to educate the design community, NRMCA Producer member United Materials hosted an education/trade show in Buffalo last week. One of the guest speakers, NRMCA Senior Director, Local Paving, Doug O’Neill, took a new approach to the topic of ACI 330. "I titled the discussion Clients Benefit from Concrete Parking Lot Alternate in an attempt to highlight the importance from a designer’s standpoint in offering a legitimate concrete alternate so that his or her clients can benefit from increased competition on a project. Not to mention getting a much more affordable and properly designed pavement," O’Neill said.

The seminar points out the many benefits for a design team to use ACI 330 and why having a legitimate concrete option benefits its clients. The day itself also offered attendees a chance to visit with vendors, United Materials sales staff and earn valuable educational credits as well, O'Neill added.

With its new design assistance program, NRMCA can support building designers with Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (WBLCA) for buildings. Utilizing specialized LCA software tools, NRMCA can estimate the environmental impacts to compare building designs to a benchmark or reference building. LEED v4, Green Globes and the International Green Construction Code each provide credit for design teams that use WBLCA in the design process. WBLCA can provide quick results for one or several environmental measures such as embodied fossil energy use, global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential and smog potential.  When combining the WBLCA with NRMCA’s energy modeling capabilities, the professional can realize the optimal design across all life cycle stages from resource extraction, manufacturing, transportation, building service life and end of life.

Utilizing a bill of materials (BOM) or material take-offs, NRMCA can execute a WBLCA in minimal time; therefore, dynamically supporting the design professional.

NRMCA members who have grown tired of watching yet another wood frame mid-rise project going up in their market now have a solution. NRMCA offers a Design Assistance Program (DAP) for buildings at no charge to owners and developers who are ready to give concrete another look or want to find new ways to improve the concrete work they are already doing. NRMCA’s buildings division is working with a growing team of consultants who have the design expertise to help a project development team find cost-effective ways to capture the many benefits of building with concrete. The DAP for Buildings is a service modeled on the success of the paving DAP service we offer.

The preliminary estimate of ready mixed concrete produced in January 2016 is 19.4 million cubic yards, 1.6% lower than that in the same month in 2015.

Ready mixed concrete production is estimated from cement shipments reported by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Last week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published a proposal aimed at easing the requirements for military veterans looking to obtain a commercial drivers license (CDL) for operating commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). The proposed changes would apply to military personnel who have left the military and previously held positions in the military requiring operations of a CMV. The changes include: 

1. Revise 49 CFR 383.77(b)(1) governing the Military Skills Test Waiver to extend the time period to apply for a waiver from 90 days to 1 year following separation from military service;

2. Revise 49 CFR 383.77(b)(3) to add the option to qualify for a CDL based on training and experience in an MOC [Military Occupational Specialty] dedicated to military CMV operation; and

3. Revise the definitions of CDL and CLP in 49 CFR 383.5 and 49 CFR 384.212 and related provisions governing the domicile requirement, in order to implement the statutory waiver enacted by The Military Commercial Driver's License Act of 2012.

Comments on the proposal are due by May 16, 2016.

Click here to view the proposal. For more information, contact Gary Mullings at gmullings@nrmca.org or Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org.

The April Plant Manager Certification class in Birmingham, AL, is now sold out. There will be two more classes in 2016; registration is open for both and both are expected to fill to capacity so do not delay reserving your seat.

• June 28 - July 1, Denver
• December 13 - 16, Anaheim, CA

The speaker schedules for the combined 2016 International Concrete Sustainability Conference (2016 ICSC) and International Self Consolidating Conference (SCC 2016), scheduled for May 15-18 in Washington, DC, have been published. Over 250 speakers and posters from nearly 50 countries will present the latest advances, technical knowledge, continuing research, tools and solutions for conventional concrete and SCC. Engineers, architects, public works officials, material suppliers, researchers, academics, students, contractors and concrete industry professionals are invited to attend the conference.

The 11th annual International Concrete Sustainability Conference makes its way to the U.S. capital for the first time. Nearly 100 researchers and practitioners from over 30 countries will present on topics ranging from resilience and low impact development to life cycle assessment and material science. Visit www.2016ICSC.org for the speaker schedule.

SCC 2016 will provide learning opportunities on the latest advances in concrete technology as they relate to SCC and concrete sustainability in general. Over 150 expert researchers and practitioners from nearly 50 countries will present on topics ranging from SCC materials and design methodology to production and quality control. Performance measurement, economics and sustainability of SCC, and many case studies involving the use of SCC in iconic structures will also be presented. Visit www.SCC2016.com for the speaker/poster schedule.

This is your last chance to participate in one of NRMCA’s most important programs – CONCRETEPAC. Registration is just about to close for corporate sponsorship of  CONCRETEPAC  events being held during the 2016 NRMCA Annual Convention at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego from April 10-12. These are CONCRETEPAC's  largest events of the year and we hope you will consider supporting the concrete industry's premier political action committee through corporate sponsorship. This year’s events include a golf tournament and the CONCRETEPAC  ‘BACK-the-PAC’ Appreciation Reception & Dinner with live & silent auctions, followed by the most coveted event of the year, a door prize drawing for a 2016 Cadillac ATS Sedan or $30,000.

As you know, supporting  CONCRETEPAC is an excellent way for your company to advertise in front of the industry's top executives. Over 400 of the ready mixed concrete and cement industry's top executives will be in attendance. In addition, registering as a corporate sponsor of  CONCRETEPAC helps NRMCA to underwrite the costs associated with hosting fundraisers. Remember, corporate funds may be used to sponsor CONCRETEPAC  events.

CONCRETEPAC thanks our Landmark sponsors CEMEX, US Concrete, Command Alkon, Concrete Supply Company, Euclid Chemical Company, GCP Applied Technologies, LaFargeHolcim, Oldcastle Materials Co. and Ozinga; Red level sponsors Breckinridge Materials, Chandler Concrete Co., Inc., Chaney Enterprises, Lehigh Hanson Company and Sika; and White level sponsors Dolese Bros. Co., Irving Materials, MMC Materials and Vulcan Materials.

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

April 5 - 8, Birmingham, AL *Sold Out

Plant Manager Certification Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

April 7, Webinar

Designing and Specifying Pervious Concrete Part 1 (Part 2 is April 14)

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

April 10 - 12, San Diego

NRMCA's Annual Convention

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

May 3, Free Webinar

The Quantifiable Advantages of Concrete Parking Lots

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

May 4, Manchester, NH

Improving Concrete Quality

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

May 9, Webinar

Designing and Specifying Pervious Concrete Part 1 (Part 2 is May 16)

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

May 10, Webinar

Personal Leadership and Coaching

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

May 10, Webinar

Introduction to Concrete Pavement Analyst

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

May 15 - 18, Washington, DC

International Concrete Sustainability & Self-Compacting Concrete Conference

Email: Lionel Lemay, 847-918-7101

 

May 17, Free Webinar

Pervious Concrete Maintenance Guidelines

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

June 6 - 8, Silver Spring, MD

Concrete Durability Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

September 18 - 20, Nashville, TN

NRMCA's ConcreteWorks 2016

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

October 4 - 7, Silver Spring, MD

CCSP Module I: Concrete 101

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

October 11, Webinar

Recruiting & Hiring Top Performing Ready Mix Sales Reps

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

November 7-11, Silver Spring, MD

Annual "Short Course"

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

December 6, Webinar 

Sales Performance Assessments and Reviews... for Ready Mix Sales Managers

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

December 13-16, Anaheim, CA

Plant Manager Certification Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152