NRMCA e-news

Pavement

NRMCA Provides Technical Assistance to Large Colorado Park District

NRMCA Vice President, Local Paving, Don Clem, PE, recently met with the management and inspection team of the Foothills Park and Recreation District (FHPRD) in Colorado. FHPRD is a special district offering parks, trails, recreation facilities, golf courses and recreational programs such as youth and adult sports, fitness, swimming, golf, ice skating, arts, to the western Denver metro area. Clem provided training on the proper design and construction of joints in concrete flatwork. NRMCA is also assisting the city will the development of plans and specifications for Clement Park Improvements Phase B, which includes an elaborate concrete water feature. Concrete overlays over asphalt pavements have also been discussed with the district for future projects.

For more information, contact Don Clem at dclem@nrmca.org.

Delaware Plans Extensive Concrete Roads Progam

The Delaware Department of Transportation has begun an aggressive concrete roads program, as reported by Jennifer Pinkerton, DelDOT chief materials and research engineer. Plans are being completed for the full-depth reconstruction in concrete of 2.5 miles of Elkton Road in Newark; 0.5 miles of Marsh Road at the interchange with I-95 and several other roadway projects. In addition, DelDOT has broken ground on the Rt. 301 bypass project. New US 301 will remove the "neck in the bottle" of the regional highway network; i.e. - existing US 301 from the Maryland/Delaware state line to I-95 and its two-lane sections (one lane in each direction), 29 at-grade intersections (18 signalized) and numerous driveways with direct access to existing US 301. New US 301 will convert existing US 301 to a local roadway that is key to the local road network, and approved and proposed development in this designated Delaware growth area. The project is divided into seven contracts that will be built concurrently. It is anticipated to take three years to complete all the contracts and open the road to traffic.

Click here to view a map of the project. For more information, contact NRMCA Senior Director, Local Paving, Ken Justice at kjustice@nrmca.org.

Government Affairs

NRMCA Advocacy News Roundup Updated Through August 28

Media articles on Congress, transportation infrastructure, regulation, taxes and other subjects, each of which relate to the ready mixed concrete industry, are updated each week by NRMCA's Government Affairs staff. To access the most recent compilation of articles for August 21-25, 2017, 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 Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org.

NRMCA Pushes Congress to Delay Electronic Logging Device Mandate

NRMCA and industry coalition partners have been lobbying to delay the upcoming electronic logging device (ELD) mandate included that has been included as part of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). On December 18, 2017, a rule will take effect mandating that all commercial motor vehicles, including ready mixed concrete trucks, install and use electronic logging devices to comply with federal hours of service (HOS) regulations. This regulation is very concerning to the ready mixed concrete industry for several reasons. First, the ready mixed concrete industry has some significant exemptions to the HOS regulations. Because of NRMCA’s advocacy during the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act), several industry-specific exemptions were made permanent – including the 30-min break rule and logbook for specific to RMC drivers. Unfortunately, if law enforcement is not properly educated and trained on these exemptions, ready mixed concrete trucks may get caught up erroneously in enforcement.

Second, the ELD mandate is estimated to impose a more than $2 billion burden on heavy trucks, making it one of the most expensive federal transportation rulemakings in the last decade. This is even more problematic considering that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has not addressed concerns about which ELDs satisfy the requirements of the rule; how connectivity issues in rural areas will be addressed and whether law enforcement will have access to relevant data in real time.

NRMCA and its coalition partners have been lobbying Members of Congress, pushing for a legislative delay sponsored by Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX). Last week, Rep. Babin filed an amendment – the Babin Amendment #35 – to attach the delay to H.R. 3354, the Make America Safe and Prosperous Appropriations Act, which Congress will consider in September. NRMCA will execute a full-court press of grassroots/grasstops and federal advocacy efforts in the next two weeks focusing on members of the House Rules and Appropriations Committees, as well as Republican leadership. Members of these committees will ultimately determine whether the Babin Amendment #35 receives consideration.

Please click here to help in this effort and urge your representative to support the Babin Amendment #35 to delay the onerous ELD mandate. For more information please contact NRMCA’s Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org.

Buildings

NRMCA Verifies Producer Member for System Level EPD Program

NRMCA has verified a system level Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) program for Producer member Concrete Supply Company. NRMCA has verified 209 concrete mix designs from eight plants generated by an EPD software tool developed to respond to product transparency credits in green building standards. The program meets international standards for EPD verification, but streamlines the verification process more efficiently. This consisted of reviewing life-cycle assessments (LCA) that was generated from an on-demand EPD software tool developed by Climate Earth. The software tool integrates LCA impacts with a mix design batch operating system to generate EPDs when desired. The software and underlying life cycle data for each plant was reviewed and verified by Sustainable Solutions Corporation, a verifier in NRMCA’s EPD program. From this point forward, Concrete Supply Co. can generate EPDs on-demand from each of its eight plants using the Climate Earth tool. Concrete Supply Co. EPDs can be found here.

Established in 2012, NRMCA’s EPD Program aims to help concrete producers and concrete product suppliers meet new requirements in green building rating systems such as LEED v4, the International Green Construction Code (IgCC) and the Architecture 2030 Challenge for Products. As the leading Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) program operator for the concrete industry, NRMCA has verified over 2,600 plant-specific mix designs from 12 companies and published an industry-wide EPD representing 2,519 plants and 88 companies.

As part of the Build with Strength campaign, NRMCA promotes Strength Through Transparency for member and industry competitiveness in the green building marketplace and the trends toward product and company transparency.

For more information, contact James Bogdan at jbogdan@nrmca.org or 412-420-4138.

OES

Due This Friday: Sponsor the National Mixer Driver Championship

Don't miss out! Is your company represented at this year’s National Mixer Driver Championship? This year’s program brings an enhanced sponsorship program. With the continued growth of the championship program, the sponsorship opportunities for members and non-members have been expanded, so please review these new sponsorship program opportunities. NRMCA encourages you to circulate these opportunities within your company and to any outside vendors you deem appropriate.

Enhanced sponsorship opportunities include full course naming rights, first place trophy naming rights, breakfast of champions, championship lunch, course challenges and many more.

Click here to review this year’s sponsorship program. For more information, contact Jacques Jenkins, Gary Mullings or Kevin Walgenbach.

Education & Training

NRMCA Introduces New Sales Manager Leadership Series

NRMCA's new Sales Management Development Program marries a workshop with follow-up online lectures to give ready mixed concrete sales managers the tools to have a positive, profound impact on their staff. Over the winter months, sales managers will work through a step-by-step process to assure their team kicks into full gear as the busy spring season starts.

Part 1: The Sales Management Leadership Workshop launches the program with a networking dinner of peers, followed by a two-day, intense workshop that focuses on the critical skills and tools needed by today’s ready mixed concrete sales managers. The content’s cornerstone is an industry-specific, real life case study where attendees team with colleagues to learn and implement new strategies that optimize the performance of a sales team while building personal management, leadership, and sales coaching skills.

Part 2: Webinar lectures

Following the workshop, participants partake in a mandatory series of three Webinars:

• Webinar #1: Sales Performance Assessments and Reviews...for Ready Mix Sales Managers | January 23, 2018

• Webinar #2: Personal Leadership and Coaching | February 20, 2018

• Webinar #3: Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining Top Performing Ready Mix Sales Reps | March 20, 2018

This is a one-price package; you cannot register for separate pieces. Click here for more information, registration options and staff contact.

Calendar

A Look Ahead

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

September 18 - 20, Salt Lake City

Concrete Durability Course