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Association & Industry News
NRMCA’s Build With Strength campaign to educate the building and design communities on the benefits of ready mixed concrete has been significantly strengthened with the addition of three industry professionals with decades of experience across multiple sections of the construction industry. Executive Vice President of Structures and Sustainability Lionel Lemay recently announced that Doug O’Neill, Frank Gordon and Donn Thompson have been hired to complement existing staff that are charged with promoting concrete as the building material of choice for building structures. Each of the three will hold the title senior director, building innovations. NRMCA is still looking for good men and women to serve on the Board of Directors. While serving on the Board requires both commitment and energy, it is a rewarding opportunity to give back to the industry. NRMCA represents a broad range of ready mixed concrete companies across the United States and our success is a direct result of the skills and expertise of our professional staff working in conjunction with our Board of Directors. Director nominees must be committed to promoting NRMCA programs and working in the best interest of its membership and the industry at large. The Board provides strategic direction, fiduciary oversight and governance of the organization’s operations. Nominees are vetted by the Nominating Committee, which consists of the current chairman of the board, the immediate past chairman of the board, and past chairmen of the board for the previous seven years, who are still in an active capacity in the industry. The selected slate of nominees is then presented to and elected by the general membership and will serve a three-year term that begins immediately following the annual convention in 2020. The deadline for submissions is Friday, July 26. Please click on links below for more information or contact NRMCA's Heather Houck at hhouck@nrmca.org. Early bird registration is now open for NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks 2019, scheduled for October 3 - 7 at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Kissimmee, FL (metro Orlando). Register now to take advantage of the early bird pricing discount and save more than $100 off the regular registration fees. NRMCA has contracted a discounted room rate at the resort of $185/night plus taxes and a $22/night resort fee that covers several in-room amenities. Click here to access NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks' registration and the resort's online reservations links, the exhibitor prospectus and more. For more information, please contact Senior Director of Meetings Jessica Walgenbach. Registration for the RMC Research & Education Foundation’s 8th Annual Walk for Wellness is now open and may be accessed online. The Walk will take place in conjunction with NRMCA’s National Mixer Driver Championship at NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks 2019. This popular event emphasizes the importance of wellness in the concrete industry. Your participation is a great opportunity to support this initiative and the Foundation at the same time. Registration is $25 per walker and is tax deductible as a contribution to the Foundation. Sponsorships are available for this event and is another terrific way to demonstrate your company’s support for the Foundation and the industry. The sponsorship form may be accessed here. Please contact Jennifer LeFevre with questions or visit www.rmc-foundation.org for more information on the work of the RMC Research & Education Foundation. The Global Cement and Concete Association is seeking submissions for a photo competition for a chance to win up to $10,000. Photos featuring concrete construction must be posted on Twitter or Instagram featuring the hashtag #concreteinlife. Please include the hashtag for the category you would like to enter: #urbandesign, #practicalconcrete or #smallscaleconcrete. 
Government Affairs
Both the House and Senate have passed versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual defense authorization bill that sets funding levels for defense department and related programs. Included in last year’s NDAA was a provision to create a pilot program to support local infrastructure projects near military installations. The program, called the Defense Community Infrastructure Program, was renewed in the FY2020 NDAA. The House authorized the program at $50 million while the Senate authorized it at $100 million for the next fiscal year. NRMCA is strongly supportive of and advocating for the higher authorization level as the House and Senate go to conference on the NDAA. NRMCA will continue to seek opportunities to support infrastructure regardless of whether a robust federal package is introduced. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org.
SEO
This year’s NRMCA National Mixer Driver Championship will take place on Saturday, October 5, during NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks being held at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Kissimmee, FL. The registration form for drivers looking to participate is still open. Don’t miss out, please submit your driver’s registration form and payment for entering into the championship. Click here to access the registration information. You may also contact Gary Mullings or Jessica Walgenbach. 
Products & Services
Is your company represented at this year’s NRMCA’s National Mixer Driver Championship, taking place October 5 at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee, FL? If not, hurry and secure your sponsorship! The competition is a highlight of the year and it’s not too late for your company to be part of it. With the continued growth of the championship program, the sponsorship opportunities for members have been expanded. Please click here to review the new sponsorship program opportunities; NRMCA encourages you to circulate them within your company and help support the ready mixed concrete industry. For more information please feel free to contact Jacques Jenkins at jjenkins@nrmca.org or 240-485-1165. 
Pavement
Shown here at an overlay project are, from left to right, Bruce Grupe, Jeff Mulder, Angela Folkestad and Don Clem. For more information, contact Don Clem at dclem@nrmca.org. 
2020 January 14 – 16, Des Moines, IA January 21 – 24, Florence, KY January 28 – 30, Orlando, FL January 28 – 30, Dallas February 25 – 28, Miami March 7 – 9, Las Vegas March 10 – 14, Las Vegas March 17 – 19, Dallas September 27 – 29, Aurora, CO Engineering
Facilitated by the Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSHub) at MIT, NRMCA engineering division staff Colin Lobo and Karthik Obla presented a Webinar last week on Reducing the Environmental Impact of Concrete Through Performance-based Specification. It was attended by about 80 attendees who had good feedback on the content. The MIT CSHub is co-funded by the RMC Research & Education Foundation and Portland Cement Association. Click here to view the slides used in the Webinar; it also was recorded and is available at this YouTube link. The NCC E-News is issued by the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center. The following are covered in more details with links to research and other reports. • The July 2019 MAP Brief, “Optimized Joint Spacing for Concrete Overlays with and without Structural Fiber Reinforcement,” summarizes field research on optimized joint spacing with and without fibers on low-volume roads. • The Missouri Department of Transportation polled the National Concrete Consortium group regarding the limits placed on the number of lanes that can be tied and the use of pull-out tests for lane ties. • A Virginia DOT project investigated the causes of premature repairs failure in continuously reinforced concrete pavement. • NCHRP Synthesis 525 identifies innovative practices and devices for establishing one-lane traffic control on rural two-lane highways. • The University of California Pavement Research Center conducted a study with the goal of determining the expected performance life of 4 in. to 7 in. thin bonded concrete overlays of asphalt in California. • A recent FHWA tech brief outlines approaches commonly used for curing cast-in-place concrete pavements. • The Midwest Transportation Center at Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Transportation published an assessment of models to predict pavement performance. • A recent Minnesota DOT project developed improved guidelines for evaluation of concrete and mortars for partial-depth repairs. Click here to access the newsletter. 
Calendar
*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site. July 30, Boise, ID August 1, Roy, UT October 5 – 7, Kissimmee, FL October 22 – 24, Irving, TX October 22 – 25, Dallas November 11 – 15, Baltimore November 19 – 21, Orlando, FL December 10 – 13, Orlando, FL December 17 – 19, Dallas |
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Jeff Mulder of the Nebraska Concrete & Aggregate Association and Bruce Grupe, Nebraska Concrete Paving Association, recently traveled to Colorado to compare notes on promotion programs with Angela Folkestad and Jamie Johnson of the American Concrete Pavement Association's CO/ WY Chapter along with Todd Ohlheiser, Colorado Ready Mixed Concrete Association, and Don Clem and Chris Dagosta of the NRMCA promotion team. The first day was spent comparing notes on leveraging the NRMCA Build With Strength program, while the second day focused on promoting concrete overlays. Following a presentation, Clem and Johnson lead a tour around the Denver metro area of 10 concrete overlay projects ranging in age from 1990 to 2019, covering promotion techniques and lessons learned during construction.