This spring, during Severe Weather Awareness Week, people will have the opportunity to visit over 70 storm resistant homes and commercial buildings featured in the first ever Minnesota State-Wide Concrete Home Open House.  This open house event is being sponsored by the Aggregate and Ready Mix Association of Minnesota (ARM).  The goal of the open house is to provide greater awareness of the safety provided by concrete homes constructed with insulated concrete forms (ICFs).

Homes built with ICF technology are highly resistant to severe weather and provide homeowners and businesses a safe place during tornados, hurricanes and high winds.  ICF walls are built with foam insulation forms into which concrete is poured.  Structures built with ICF technology are able to withstand severe storms and storm damage much better than conventionally framed walls.  Debris driven by high winds presents the greatest hazard to homeowners and their homes during tornados.  Laboratory testing at the Wind Engineering Research Center, Texas Tech University, compared the impact resistance of residential concrete wall construction to conventionally framed walls.  The frame walls failed to stop the penetration of airborne hazards.  The concrete walls successfully demonstrated the strength and mass to resist the impact of 100 mph wind driven debris.

Besides providing a very safe environment, ICF homes are also highly energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

The Minnesota State-Wide Concrete Homes Open House will feature completed homes, homes under construction and commercial buildings throughout Minnesota the weekend of April 22-23, 2006 which coincides with Severe Weather Awareness Week.  Additional information about the event, including locations of featured homes and listings of ICF builders/installers in Minnesota, go to www.chooseconcretehomes.com or call ARM at 1-888-REDI-MIX.

Mark your calendars now!  The 11^th Annual Concrete Open will be held June 6^th at The Legends Club in Prior Lake.  Regular hole sponsorships are available again this year for $300 and hole-in-one sponsorships are again $650.  Contact Margaret Mills at the ARM office at 952-707-1250 or at mmills@armofmn.com for more information.  Golf registration forms will be mailed before the end of April.

ARM is pleased to announce that an ACI Concrete Strength Testing Technician Certification Course is being offered Friday, May 5, 2006 beginning at 8:00 am.  The instructor will be Dr. Kevin MacDonald, PHD, PE of Cemstone Products Company.  Both a written exam and performance test will be given after 5 hours of review.  The course is being held at Braun Intertec located at 1100 Hampshire Avenue South in Minneapolis.  There is a $250 fee per student.  Use the registration form found on the ARM website at www.armofmn.com/aci_mndot.cfm.  Payment should be sent to the ARM registration office.

ARM Staffer Dan Frentress, PE will train ready mix producers and others to use the new concrete pavement design guide that has been included on the MnDOT State Aid for Local Streets website which dramatically changes the specifications for concrete pavements on local streets.  The training will take place Friday, April 21 from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm at Degussa Admixtures in Eagan.

Participants in the course will learn to use the new concrete pavement design guide that has been included on the MnDOT State Aid for Local Streets website and gain insight on how to use NRMCAs Concrete Pavement Analyst Software in parking lot promotions.  John Garrity, MnDOT Bituminous Engineer will also give a presentation on asphalt specifications.

There is a $75 registration fee.  Lunch is being provided by Holcim (US) Inc.  The registration deadline is Monday, April 17, 2006.

Click Here to Download Registration Form

Six companies have joined ARM since the beginning of the year.  They include: CertainTeed Foundations; CitiCapital Construction Equipment Finance; Environmental Resource Corp.; J.S. Kruger Consulting, Inc; R & E Enterprises of Mankato; Solomon Colors and Vern’s Trucking.

If you know of anyone interested in joining ARM, contact Membership Committee Chairman Travis Collins (GRT) at 651-454-4151 or via e-mail at travis@grtinc.com.

Click here to download membership brochure

Click here to download membership dues sheet

ARM continues to benefit from lobbying efforts provided by Becca Pryse at Ewald.  ARM’s Executive Director, Fred Corrigan along with several of ARM members have been actively busy making sure ARM’s member companies’ needs are well communicated and represented to Minnesota’s leaders. 

For more information on ARM’s legislative activities and pertinent issues as of April 5, 2006, click on the following topics:

The Bonding Bill:  House and Senate complete work on $1 Billion bonding bills
Click Here for More

Road Weight Restrictions and Truck Limits: MnDOT pulls truck weight bill until 2007
Click Here for More

Transportation Funding/MVST: Legislature attempts to change language of constitutional amendment
Click Here for More

Aggregate Preservation:  ARM testifies on property tax bill for aggregate reserve properties
Click Here for More

Eminent Domain: House and Senate pass bills to restrict use of eminent domain
Click Here for More

Copper and Aluminum Theft:  ARM works on bill to register scrap dealers
Click Here for More

Stadiums:  House passes Gopher stadium bill
Click Here for More

A summary of the 2006 Truck Safety Summit held earlier this year has been released.  ARM members participated in the summit which was held to explore why Minnesota continues to see higher truck fatality rates for trucks domiciled within the state of Minnesota than is found in national averages. The report will be followed by more work on some of the information gathered at the Summit. Three possible work groups have been proposed as follows:

• Data Works Group: This group will meet in early June with the various state and federal agencies to begin the process of going deeper and broader in review of the data we have and are collecting
• Crash Locations Work Group: This group will meet in early June with the same agencies to begin analyzing the issues surrounding high frequency truck crash locations: engineering, speeds and signage.
• Driver Education Work Group: This group will meet in early June to review current materials used by the State of Minnesota and driver education programs to educate passenger car drivers regarding how to share the road with big trucks.
  

Paul Wiegand, PE from the Center for Transportation Research and Education in Ames, IA announced that the research report for "Mix Design Development for Pervious Concrete in Cold Weather Climates" is now posted on the CTRE website.  The web address is www.ctre.iastate.edu.  From there just use the Research link.  It is best if you sort by date since this report is the most recent one posted.  Paul Wiegand can be reached at pwiegand@iastate.edu if you have any questions.

This course for the ready mixed concrete industry teaches its participants about OSHA SAFETY compliance and will be held May 9-11 in Eagan, MN. It begins with why safety is so important and details the reasons why an effective safety program actually saves money through loss prevention and control. Participants learn about electrical safety, machine guarding, fall protection, hazard communication, confined spaces, personal protective equipment, fire fighting and evacuation, maintenance shop safety chute handling, fleet safety, pre-trip inspection and more.

Do you know all the details concerning your company’s responsibilities when it comes to OSHA regulations and filing OSHA forms? If not…attend this great session! Two & 1/2 days of learning about safety in the ready mixed concrete industry, including actual hands on experience participating in a plant safety audit. This promises to be a learning experience you can take back to your work and your home.

Click here for registration information

The work has begun on the 2006 ARM Membership Directory.  Any updates to your listing must be received by the ARM office no later than April 18, 2006.  Changes made after that date may not make the printed publication.

To view your 2005 listing, either visit www.armofmn.com or e-mail ARM’s office manager, Jill Cohen at JCohen@armofmn.com.