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Of 337 metropolitan areas, 148 of them saw increases in the number of construction jobs between December 2010 and December 2011, according to data from the Associated General Contractors of America. "Many communities are benefitting from growing demand from the private sector for new construction activity," said Ken Simonson, AGC's chief economist. "Unfortunately, too many other areas are still coping with construction employment losses as the overall market remains relatively weak."

Source: AGC's SmartBrief e-newsletter for February 2, which included this story from The Philadelphia Inquirer: read more and click here for AGC's state-by-state metro area breakdown.

Construction Spending Rose 1.5% in December

December saw a 1.5% increase in construction spending, its highest level in four months, according to the Commerce Department. The increase was well above the median estimate of 0.5%. "There are certainly bright spots for the construction outlook," said Michelle Meyer, a senior economist at Bank of America.

Source: AGC's SmartBrief e-newsletter for February 2 which included this Bloomberg News article.

PROMOTION

Streets and Local Roads Move Forward in Arkansas

NRMCA South Central Senior National Resource Director Vance Pool reports that streets and local roads (SLR) promotion efforts are moving forward in Arkansas. Jim Hall of Martin Marietta, representing the Arkansas Ready Mixed Concrete Assocation (ARMCA), used a longstanding connection to drive concrete streets and local roads. This strategy was discussed at the first ARMCA SLR training class, Pool said.

Hall scheduled the meeting so that Pool could join him as technical support. While in the process of positioning concrete streets, Hall was made aware of a small parking lot that local county officials were planning on building with asphalt. Not anymore - Hall flipped it to concrete, Pool said. Plans are to conduct a seminar prior to construction with the government officials and their consultants.

"I feel really good about the direction things are moving in Arkansas," Pool said. "ARMCA members are driving the grassroots level calls and it is just a matter of time until they see even larger success."

For more information, contact Vance Pool at vpool@nrmca.org.

Upcoming Webinars Focus Designing Pervious Concrete, Communicating Sustainability

NRMCA's national resource directors have two Webinars scheduled for February, so be sure to click on each link for more information or contact NRMCA's Jessica Walgenbach at jwalgenbach@nrmca.org.

• February 14 - A two-part* Webinar by Mid-Atlantic Senior National Resource Director Phil Kresge provides an overview on implementing pervious concrete pavements as a solution to reducing stormwater runoff from building sites and other paved areas. Participants will learn about pervious concrete pavement systems, engineering properties and construction techniques. Designing and Specifying Pervious Concrete (*Part 2 is February 21).

• February 14 – A free Webinar by Northeast Senior National Resource Director Doug O’Neill called Effectively Communicating Sustainability. This hour-long program takes what we already know about concrete’s sustainability along with the recently released MIT research results and incorporates that information with a Communications 101 course, geared toward helping attendees understand what it takes to improve our communication skills.

ASSOCIATION & INDUSTRY NEWS

Concrete Share of U.S. Highways Increases

Rising energy prices since 2008 have improved concrete’s relative competitive position against asphalt and led to a greater market share for U.S. highway paving. Through the third quarter in 2011, concrete’s market share of U.S. highway paving volume stood at 16.8 percent, its highest level on record, based on available data through 2003. The previous high was 15.2 percent in 2003.

The paving market shares for volume are calculated based on the amount of each material’s paving tons as a percentage of total tons bid for the specific year. Using Oman Data Systems that provide state DOT bid tabulations, PCA gathers highway paving volume and spending information by state.

Source: The Portland Cement Association's Executive Report e-newsletter for January 30, 2012.

Industry Notes Passing of Dave Twomey Sr.

Longtime concrete industry executive and promoter Dave Twomey, Sr., died Saturday, February 4, at the age of 77 in Scarborough, ME, after a long illness. Twomey’s career included serving as vice president of ready mix concrete and aggregate operations for Cianbro Corp, a predecessor company to NRMCA producer member Dragon Products. In 1994, he left the company to assume the position of executive director of the Northern New England Concrete Promotion Association. At the same time, he formed Concrete Resources Group, a consulting and sales organization providing services to the industry. Twomey also served at various times as a Board of Directors member of NRMCA, the Maine Better Transportation Association and the Associated General Contractors of Maine.

Twomey was predeceased by his parents, his son Christopher, his grandson David P. Twomey, III, and his sister Joyce Twomey. Surviving are his wife, Catherine, of 58 years, his son and daughter-in-law David P. Twomey, Jr., and Deborah, daughter and son-in-law, Carolyn and Peter Cianchette, Richard Walton
and Kathy-Jo Walton, his grandchildren William Twomey, Evan Cianchette, and Maria Cianchette, Richard Walton and his wife Sharon and their children Richard Walton, Jr., and Sarah Walton and a sister Mary Sue Hanson.

Donations in Twomey's name may be made to Cheverus High School, 267 Ocean Ave., Portland, ME 04103. To share condolences online, please visit www.HopeMemorial.com.

PAVEMENTS

NRMCA Develops Construction Specification for Concrete Pavement Parking Lot Applications

NRMCA has developed a reference specification entitled Standard Specification for Materials and Construction of Jointed Unreinforced Concrete Pavement Parking Lots for use by owners to define material and construction requirements, criteria and expectations of material suppliers and construction contractors. The language contained in the document is intended to be modified, as necessary, to fit within a project’s contractual conditions and local preferences. The specification was developed using the Construction Specifications Institute’s MasterFormat® standard.

The specification is offered free to NRMCA members and to architects, engineers, developers, builders and commercial owners upon email request. It may also be purchased via download from NRMCA’s E-Store.

More information may be found on the Concrete Promoters’ Resource Center Web page. For more information regarding Concrete Parking Lot Pavement Design and Construction Assistance or to obtain a copy of the specification contact NRMCA’s Brian Killingsworth at bkillingsworth@nrmca.org or an NRMCA national resource director located in your region.

SUSTAINABILITY

MIT Research Briefs Support Concrete as Material of Choice for Sustainable Construction

The MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSH) recently published several research briefs on the life cycle assessment of concrete structures that further supports concrete as the material of choice for sustainable construction. The most recent briefs include:

• Homes: A Match for Concrete Innovation - Research confirms that improving current U.S. tightness levels to European standards would reduce by up to 40% HVAC power consumption. For homes, this suggests the use of concrete wall-roof systems with continuous insulation and structure that combine low conductivity with fewer pathways for air infiltration compared to conventional stick built construction.
• Roads: Smoothness Matters, But... - Research confirms that both smoothness and stiffness of pavements contribute to the overall environmental footprint of pavement systems. Deflection-induced fuel consumption dominates early on, while the increase in roughness over the design life governs fuel consumption in the long term. Due to its higher stiffness and lower roughness over time, emissions are generally lower for concrete over the pavement design life.

Click here to download MIT CSH technical briefs. Additional technical briefs summarizing MIT research, along with other research, can be found at www.nrmca.org/sustainability. Contact NRMCA's Lionel Lemay at LLemay@nrmca.org or 847-918-7101. The MIT CSH is funded through generous support of the RMC Research & Education Foundation and the Portland Cement Association.

GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

Transportation Bills Front and Center in Congress

Last Tuesday, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (T&I) Chairman John Mica (R-7-FL) unveiled his revamped, much anticipated surface transportation authorization bill. The American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7), in short, amounts to a 5-year, $260 billion transportation program. Shortly after its release, the House T&I Committee held a record, nearly 18-hour long markup of the bill which examined roughly 100 amendments. Following the markup, the highlights of the over 800-page bill include: a restructuring of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), elimination and consolidation of dozens of highway programs, requirements to consider public-private partnerships, allowing greater use of tolls, more attention/resources for bridge deficiencies, funding for state infrastructure banks, increased funding for the TIFIA program, requirements for greater highway worker safety measures, a requirement to develop a national freight policy, and a study to determine the affects of increased truck weights.

The funding for the new bill will come from a combination of HTF receipts, revenues from new oil and gas drilling leases, and a mystery $40 billion offset which still hasn’t been made public yet, although rumors suggest something having to do with "pensions" changes. Later this week, the House Rules Committee will determine the structure for floor debate on H.R. 7, including how many, if any, amendments will be offered.

If everything goes according to plan, the full House should consider H.R. 7 the week of February 13. On the Senate side, H.R. 7 stands in very stark contrast to the Senate’s transportation proposal; MAP-21 (S. 1813), a two-year, $109 billion bill with a handful of policy changes. Although the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has cleared the bill, the chamber is still waiting on the Senate Banking and Commerce committees to sign off on the mass transit portion, and the freight and safety provisions, respectively.

The Senate Finance Committee met on Tuesday to finalize filling the bill’s funding gap. Neither a timeline for a final Senate bill nor a specific date/time for a full Senate vote on S. 1813 is currently known. Other than the obvious length and dollar differences between the two chambers’ bills, a host of items of contention are bound to drive a big wedge between the chambers, parties and outside groups. So far, the biggest thing both bills have in common is no earmarks. Because the situation in both chambers is fairly fluid right now, NRMCA will keep its feelers out for any news on possible amendments, including fly ash, cement MACT or XL pipeline language to either chamber’s bill. The next two weeks of consideration should paint a good picture of the winners and losers, and what passage of a comprehensive bill before March 31 really looks like.

For more information, contact Kevin Walgenbach or Kerri Leininger at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org or kleininger@nrmca.org.

House Committee Criticizes Obama Recess Appointees, Process

On Tuesday, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce (E&W) examined how President Obama recently recess-appointed three members to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). At issue is the question of whether he was legally permitted to make recess appointments when the Senate wasn’t in a formal recess, but rather a quasi-recess known as a pro forma session.

Also of contention is what the appointments mean for the agenda of the NLRB. E&W Committee Chairman John Kline (R-2-MN) noted, "Our primary concern is the fear and uncertainty this action has unleashed – the fear of the activist NLRB’s future actions and the uncertainty of whether its mandates and decisions can stand under constitutional scrutiny."

Stefan Marculewicz, testifying on behalf of Littler Mendelson for the majority, and whom addressed the NRMCA Government Affairs Committee on similar matters at the NRMCA 2011 ConcreteWorks & Board of Directors Meeting, stated that "as a labor lawyer who spends much of his day advising companies on the in’s and out’s of compliance with the intricacies of the National Labor Relations Act, and the decisions of [the] National Labor Relations Board, I do feel I have a certain understanding of the confusion and uncertainty that will result from decisions of this new Board, particularly given that the quorum may ultimately be determined invalid by the courts."

For more information, contact NRMCA's Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org or Kerri Leininger at kleininger@nrmca.org.

NRMCA Advocacy News Roundup Updated Through February 3

To read government affairs-related stories that relate to the ready mixed concrete industry for the week of January 30-February 3, 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 Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org.

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

February Internet Special Highlights Thermal Measurements of Hydrating Concrete Mixtures Guide

NRMCA's February Internet Spotlight, good through Tuesday, March 6, is the Thermal Measurements of Hydrating Concrete Mixtures guide. This publication introduces readers to SAC equipment, applications and basics of how to plan and conduct an effective SAC testing program. Interpretation of SAC thermal profiles are also discussed.

Order online today and receive 25% off. Internet Special $26.25, plus shipping. Please use Discount Code ISFEB12 to receive the online discount.

CALENDAR

A Look Ahead

February 14, Webinar
Designing and Specifying Pervious Concrete (*Part 2 is February 21)
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

February 14, Free Webinar
Effectively Communicating Sustainability
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

February 15, Free Webinar
NRMCA & ENERGY STAR® Energy Management
Email: gmullings@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1161

February 20-24, Dallas
Technical Short Course
Email: kbean@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1168

February 21, Webinar
Introduction To Concrete Pavement Analyst
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

February 23, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

February 27-March 1, Online Course
Building Green with Concrete
Email: sdickens@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

March 2, Webinar
National Account Parking Lots 101
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

March 4-6, Savannah, GA
NRMCA Annual Convention
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

March 15, Webinar
ACI 330 R-08 – The Gold Standard of Concrete Parking Lot Design
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

March 20, Webinar
Designing and Specifying Pervious Concrete (*Part 2 is March 27)
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

March 20-22, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP Module IV: Professional Sales Skills Workshop
Email: sdickens@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

March 26-29, Online Course
Pervious Concrete—A Stormwater Solution
Email: sdickens@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

March 27, Webinar
Introduction To Concrete Pavement Analyst
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

April 12, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

April 16-19, Online Course
Design of Concrete Pavements
Email: sdickens@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

April 26, Webinar
ACI 330 R-08 – The Gold Standard of Concrete Parking Lot Design
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

May 7-10, Seattle, WA
International Concrete Sustainability Conference
Email: Lionel Lemay at llemay@nrmca.org

May 17, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

May 21-24, Online Course
Life Cycle Assessment of Concrete Structures
Email: sdickens@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

May 23, Nashua, NH
Handling Concrete Specifications, Low Strength Problems and Mixture Submittals
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

June 7, Webinar
ACI 330 R-08 – The Gold Standard of Concrete Parking Lot Design
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

June 25-28, Online Course
Concrete's Role in Sustainable Development
Email: sdickens@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

June 28, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

July 16-19, Online Course
Building Green with Concrete
Email: sdickens@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

July 26, Webinar
ACI 330 R-08 – The Gold Standard of Concrete Parking Lot Design
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmc.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

August 6-9, Online Course
Pervious Concrete—A Stormwater Solution
Email: sdickens@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

August 9, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

August 27-30, Online Course
Design of Concrete Pavements
Email: sdickens@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

September 20, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

November 1, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

December 4-6, Orlando, FL
Environmental Professional Certification Course for the Ready Mixed Concrete Industry
Email: jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

2013

May 12-15, Chicago
Fifth North American Conference on Design and Use of Self-Consolidating Concrete

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