The ARM Building Excellence Awards Banquet will be held December 13, 2006 at The Depot in downtown Minneapolis.  Award submission entries are due in the ARM office no later than October 15^th.

Click Here to Download Awards Brochure

Click Here to Download Submission Form

Sponsorships are available for both the awards and the convention.  ARM appreciates the support of its members!

Click Here to Download Sponsorship Information

The 2007 Minnesota Statewide Concrete Homes Open House will be held April 21-22, 2007 in conjunction with Severe Weather Awareness Week.  Sponsorships are available for this event that showcased close to eighty homes built by thirty builders across Minnesota.  Visit www.chooseconcretehomes.com for more information on the 2007 event.

Click Here to Download Sponsorship Information

ARM participated with Oakdale-based Emmons & Olivier Resources to create an indoor rain garden as part of the exciting Front Yard exhibit inside the MPCA ECO Experience at the recently completed Minnesota State Fair.

ARM worked with Brad Burke at Aggregate Industries to provide a section of pervious concrete for the display to demonstrate how rain will soak into the pavement and reduce runoff or store rain water for irrigation purposes in home gardens.

For more information on this state fair exhibit, click here.

ARM is asking its members to nominate deserving persons for the Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2006 Promoter of the Year Award.  Call the ARM office at 952-707-1250 with any questions.

Click Here to Download Lifetime Achievement Award Nomination Form

Click Here to Download 2006 Promoter of the Year Nomination Form

ARM is now accepting applications for its Members Scholarship.  This $500 scholarship is intended to provide financial support to a student seeking any post-secondary education and whose parent, step-parent, or legal guardian is employed by a producer member or associate member of Aggregate Ready Mix Association of Minnesota (ARM).  Contact the ARM office at 952-707-1250 or e-mail Jill Cohen for additional information.

Click Here to Download Scholarship Application Form

The Aggregate and Ready Mix Association of Minnesota will be placing sections of pervious concrete sidewalk at the MnROAD Research Facility in Albertville on Monday, September 18.  The placement will take place at 10:30 AM and will be preceded at 9:30 AM by information on NRMCA contractor certification through ARM.  ARM members, their customers and associated engineering and industry associates are welcome to attend this event.  Please let us know if you plan to attend this event by e-mailing Jill Cohen or calling the ARM office at 952.707.1250.

Click Here for Directions to MnROAD

Xcel Energy, Inc. the nation’s fifth largest energy producer, is interested in pervious concrete, reports NRMCA Managing Director, National Resources, Dan Huffman. He and Jason Kruger of the North Central Cement Council recently met with the senior management of Xcel at its corporate headquarters in Minneapolis in a meeting that was facilitated by Kruger. Xcel is a major national producer of electrical energy and natural gas, delivering to a 10-state service area while also being the nation’s largest producer of wind power.

Huffman made a PowerPoint presentation to the assembled Xcel group and was closely supported by Kruger. Facing a need for major reconstruction at one of its power plant facilities in the Minneapolis area, Xcel is under pressure from the local stormwater agency and, as a result, will strongly consider pervious concrete for this and other applications throughout the energy company’s operating area.

The University of Minnesota’s Center for Transportation Studies will be holding a workshop titled Concrete Rehabilitation for City Streets and County Roads.  The workshop, taught by ARM’s own Dan Frentress, will cover all aspects of rehabilitation for concrete pavements, concrete curbs and gutters, and median or sidewalk pavements. The workshop includes two field sessions—one to determine what to repair, and the other to review actual concrete rehabilitation repairs made using a new Minnesota LRRB manual (Best Practices for Concrete Repair of Local Streets and County Roads). The LRRB has designed new repair standards for the course based on successful repairs performed by the City of Owatonna and Mn/DOT.

The course will be held October 3-4 in Minneapolis.  There is a $100 fee that includes lunch, coffee breaks and program materials.  Register online: October 3-4, 2006—Currie Facility, 1200 Currie Ave N., Minneapolis, MN or contact Mindy Carlson, 612-625-1813, carlson@cts.umn.edu for additional information.

The promotion team of NRMCA’s Dan Huffman and Jason Kruger (North Central Cement Council) met in Minneapolis with the regional construction manager (9 states) of McDonald’s Corp. The meeting was locally facilitated by Kruger - the team generally focused on the benefits of concrete pavements, which was well received by the client. Enthusiasm for the particular benefits of pervious concrete was such that the McDonald's official targeted a specific upcoming project for consideration of a trial placement.

Prior to the meeting, Kruger had laid groundwork with the local watershed district, which then encouraged McDonald's and the industry. In addition, Kruger had established a relationship with this construction manager’s predecessor who has since been promoted and moved into the McDonald’s corporate headquarters outside Chicago. NRMCA's new North Central field promoter, Jon Hanson, will be briefed on these developments and will follow up with all interested parties once he begins work next week.

Senate Environment and Public Works Fisheries, Wildlife, and Water Subcommittee Chairman Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) held an Aug. 1 hearing on the recent Supreme Court ruling on wetlands. Both the Army Corps and EPA's assistant administrator for water, Ben Grumbles, told committee members that they did not know when a guidance to clarify the scope of the ruling would be issued. The guidance is expected to define the "significant nexus" test and clarify the scope of Section 404 over seasonal rivers, perennial streams, and intermittent flows through desert regions.

Until the guidance is issued, Grumbles told the subcommittee EPA and the Corps have been told to defer making wetlands determinations. Full committee chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and subcommittee member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) expressed support for rulemakings to clarify the court ruling as opposed to legislative fixes endorsed by Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the full Committee James Jeffords (D-Vt.), and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.).

NSSGA is filing a statement for the record of the Senate subcommittee hearing and is closely following agency action on the issue.

NRMCA has launched its latest industry website to expand the market for concrete buildings. Created with the support and assistance of the Insulated Concrete Forms Association (ICFA) and the Tilt-Up Concrete Association (TCA), ConcreteBuildings.org provides information to specifiers about tilt-up and commercial ICF construction. The site also allows specifiers the opportunity to request project and planning help from NRMCA, ICFA, TCA and the rest of our network of industry association partners.

On Aug. 1, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing on the June 19 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in the consolidated cases of Rapanos v. United States and Carabell v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. NSSGA submitted testimony for the record on Aug. 8. NSSGA's testimony supports legislation that takes a common sense approach to establishing readily identifiable limits to federal wetlands jurisdiction. Read Full Article...

Source: NSSGA e-Digest August 15, 2006

Mortar properties are influenced by aggregate--masonry sand. Although sand would seem to be a constant, its characteristics vary geographically and over time. This is normal and expected. For instance, it is not uncommon for sand gradation to fall outside the range allowed by ASTM C 144, Specification for Aggregate for Masonry Mortar. When sand does not satisfy gradation requirements of C 144, a waiver allows for that sand to be used provided the mortar is proportioned (and tested) to meet certain required properties. Read Full Article...

Source: NSSGA e-Digest August 15, 2006

Concrete parking is becoming much more competitive on first-cost in every market and is now the lower-cost material in a number of markets. In combination with concrete’s superior life-cycle advantages and “green” benefits, we can expect a much enhanced reception from specifiers all across the country, even those who decided against concrete in the recent past.

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Preliminary estimates of ready mixed concrete produced in June 2006 is 45 million cubic yards, which is unchanged from June 2005 production. The year-to-date production through the 2nd quarter of 2006 is estimated at 224.6 million cubic yards, a 5.4% increase compared to the same period in 2005. The forecast for 2006, purely based on a statistical evaluation of prior trends, is for 482 million cubic yards with a margin of error of +/-7 million cubic yards (a 6% increase from 2005). Other economic analysis and current market trends may not support statistically-based predictions.

Ready mixed concrete production is estimated from cement shipments published by the US Geological Survey.

Portland Cement Association's Summer Forecast Report has scaled back its growth targets for powder consumption in 2006. The outlook expects consumption this year to reach 129.6 million metric tons, an increase of 2.3%, compared to 2005 levels, followed by a 1.2% increase in 2007. The spring forecast had projected 3.5% growth in 2006. Slower economic growth is expected as higher interest rates, oil prices and inflation slow consumer spending, according to PCA Chief Economist Edward Sullivan. These forces are expected to result in a harsh decline in residential and slow the recovery in nonresidential construction activity in 2006 and 2007. Slower job growth also could contribute to a more cautious approach to public spending.

Additionally, the revised forecast reports that the tight market conditions seen during the past two years have been dramatically reduced, with only two states reporting tight conditions, compared to 30 states in 2004 and 2005. Large gains in imports in the first half of 2006 contributed significantly to the easing of supply issues.

Source: Portland Cement Association

The Michigan Department of Transportation is the newest addition to the Transportation Engineering and Road Research Alliance (TERRA). The Michigan partnership is an important milestone for TERRA, said CTS associate director Laurie McGinnis, because it shows the potential for greater regional cooperation on pavement research topics to benefit states across the Upper Midwest. Dick Stehr, Mn/DOT division director and co-chair of the TERRA board of directors, said he welcomes another state DOT and hopes that others will see the value of the partnership.

Michigan joins a number of regional partners including Mn/DOT, the Minnesota Local Road Research Board, pavement industry associations, and Iowa State University’s Center for Transportation Research and Education (CTRE). The Norwegian Public Roads Administration is also a member.

In other news, TERRA launched a Web site, www.terraroadalliance.org, featuring information on the organization and its activities. The site is a good place to learn more about partnering with TERRA, according to Fred Corrigan, co-chair of the organization’s board of directors. Corrigan said TERRA is actively seeking to expand its research activities through partnerships with pavement stakeholders in both the public and the private sectors.

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