A new U.S. 75/Nebraska Highway 2 interchange located on the south edge of Nebraska City that started last Spring is continuing to progress.  Both Constructors and Concrete Industries – Nebraska City are involved with the project that is scheduled to be completed in the Fall of 2017.  Constructors is completing the one-mile-long paving project, which will consist of constructing a new elevated interchange with Nebraska Highway 2 elevated over U.S. 75. The project includes grading, culverts, bridges, paving, seeding, landscaping and lighting.

The project is being built in phases to accommodate traffic, with traffic control being maintained by Trafcon.  Traffic control for this project consist of signals, temporary traffic signals, flaggers and pilot cars to facilitate traffic flow.  In total, Constructors will pave 85,000+ cubic yards of concrete supplied by Concrete Industries – Nebraska City and 20,000+ tons of asphalt.

With over 15 subcontractors involved, project coordination by Brent Davis and Zach Yelkin of Constructors have kept the project moving forward.  Some of the major subcontractors involved include Pink Grading, United Contractors, and Linhart Construction.

It took a complete team effort for Beatrice Ready Mixed to meet the demands of a recent paving job on Hickory Road located north of Beatrice.  Beatrice Concrete supplied over 15,000 cubic yards of concrete for the 4.5 mile stretch of road that was 24 feet wide and poured at 9 inches thick.

The General Contractor, Paulsen, Inc. and Gage County requested 180 to 200 yards of concrete each hour for the project that started 5 miles from the Ready Mixed Plant but was nearly 9.5 miles away at the completion of the project.  The crew of drivers, plant operators and support staff were able to supply 211 yards an hour during the 7 main line pours, amounting to a truck being loaded every 3 minutes for a 10-12 hour pour.

The complete team effort even stretched across multiple NEBCO companies as Ready Mixed of Lincoln, Concrete Industries – Nebraska City, Overland Ready Mixed and Constructors all helped support Beatrice Ready Mixed by sending trucks to cover their other plants to ensure they could keep up with the demand of the Hickory Road project.  Concrete Industries – Nebraska City and Ready Mixed also assisted in hauling cement.  In total approximately 580 tons of cement was delivered to the Beatrice plant during each pour day.

Ready Mixed Concrete in Lincoln recently launched a new Quality Control program used to record and transmit concrete tests from the field.  Through the use of iPads, quality control personnel can do away with cumbersome log books while increasing efficiency and having a larger database to easily track projects.

Each iPad is set up with a mobile application that allows personnel to record data and transmit the results electronically.  The new system also allows management to review the test results at any time.  The iPads also allow the technicians in the field to monitor and record weather, search project addresses, take photos and get live feed from TrackIt to view the mixer truck locations at various jobs.

The Midwest Transmission Project is a partnership project being accomplished by Kansas City Power & Light and the Omaha Public Power District.  This project consists of the planning, identification of a route, and construction of 180 miles of a new 345-kV transmission line from KCP&L’s existing substations located near Sibly, MO and Maryville, MO and on to OPPD’s existing substation located near Nebraska City.

The construction phase of this project began in the Summer of 2015 and includes installing foundations, assembling structures and stringing wire.  Concrete Industries – Nebraska City and Southeast Ready Mixed has supplied nearly 8,800 cubic yards of concrete for the project which is estimated to be completed by Winter 2016.

Each state is working independently on their respective portion of the project’s construction.  Concrete Industries – Nebraska City and Southeast Ready Mixed supplied concrete for the line from Nebraska City to Craig, MO with concrete coming out of the Falls City, Auburn and
Nebraska City ready nixed plants.

Six concrete silos topped with nearly 90 crew members dominated the landscape just east of Syracuse, NE for over five days.  Once completed, the silos will store up to 1 million bushels of corn and soybeans and be the heart of Midwest Farmers Cooperative’s planned rail shuttle complex.

Concrete Industries – Nebraska City supplied 3,600 cubic yards of concrete for the project which required three shifts of drivers, batchmen & quality control technicians.  The lead contractor, Hogenson Construction, had crews pouring around the clock with massive floodlights illuminating the site at night.  The continuous pour lasted 125 straight hours totaling approximately 342 truckloads of concrete.

“Whether you were on the slip pour or not, it took all of us working together to make it happen,” Craig N. of Concrete Industries – Nebraska City said, “With Ready Mixed Concrete Lincolns’ help on the silo pour and Beatrice Concrete helping cover some of our other pours, we were able to complete the project in 125 hours; 15 hours ahead of schedule.  The 9-inch thick walls raised 12-inches per hour to a height of 140 feet.

All concrete was chipped from Concrete Industries’ Syracuse Plant.

Concrete Industries – Nebraska City & Beatrice Ready Mixed recently joined forces on a large concrete pour for Midwest Farmers Cooperative at their new grain silo facility in Syracuse.  Approximately 1,000 yards of concrete was estimated for the grain silo pad so two plants were used in order to complete the project in the 4-5 hour time frame requested by Hogenson Construction, the contractor on the project. Two pumps and more than 30 Ready Mixed trucks were used on the pour, with Beatrice Ready Mixed supplying 400 yards of concrete out of the Hwy 2 plant and Concrete Industries Nebraska City supplying the remaining 600 yards.

Concrete Industries Nebraska City and Syracuse plants have supplied approximately 3800 yards to the project so far and will be providing approximately 3300 yards on the 6 day around the clock pour for the grain silos that is scheduled start on April 11th.  The silos are part of a new rail-shuttle complex to handle grain and fertilizer shipments near Syracuse. Construction of the complex began in June of 2015.

Ready Mixed Concrete recently replaced the cradle and 10 year old mixer at the Y Street Plant in Lincoln. The plant, which was built in the late 1980’s, was still operating with the original cradle that was installed when the plant opened. The new mixer is a 12 cubic yard RexCon Mixer and was installed by Ready Mixed Lincoln with help from Davis Erection and Barnhart Crane. The roof panels were removed to allow the crane space to set the mixer inside the plant. In 2015, the Y Street Ready Mixed Plant produced 100,000 yards of concrete.

The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association honored Ready Mixed Concrete in Lincoln with the 2015 Commitment to Environmental Excellence Awards at its ConcreteWorks Conference & Expo held in San Antonio in Late September.  The College View Plant in Lincoln received Honorable Mention recognition in the category of plants with production volumes between 50,000 yds. to 100,000 yds.  The program offers producers national recognition for protecting the environment and maintaining sound environmental management practices.

The NRMCA operations, Environmental and Safety Committee and its Environmental Task Group underscore how award candidates have not only met, but surpassed governmental compliance requirements and demonstrated commitments through plant and staff investment.  Eligible plants include those sites under NRMCA producer members located in the U.S., its territories or Canada.  Environmental Excellence Award entries are divided into categories based on production volumes.

The College View Plant in Lincoln returns to the Environmental Excellence program after being recognized in previous years.  Since recognition in 2013, Ready Mixed Concrete has received the Nebraska Industrial Council Environmental Leadership Excellence Award for innovation.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 staff concluded an inspection by observing how the plant’s SWPPP performance exceeds permit requirements.

With strong management practices across environmental, safety and fleet operations, Ready Mixed Concrete staff have provided site tours for agency representatives from Lincoln and Omaha, and peers in ready mixed and precast concrete industries.

Constructors and Concrete Industries – Nebraska City have been hard at work at Indian Cave State Park, located in the southeast corner of Nebraska.  Working alongside Mainelli Wagner & Associates, Inc. engineers, the Nebraska Department of Roads and Nebraska State Parks, Constructors and CINC plans to lay more than 40,000 square yards of 8” thick concrete and 30,000 tons of asphalt between April 2015 and June 2016, when the project is expected to be complete.  The project includes all roads, trails, drainage and sewer improvements and a larger, newly paved boat dock and storage area.

“Constructors was the only company to bid on the project,” said Randy H., President of Constructors.  “With the difficult hilly terrain and isolated location, I honestly think most other companies couldn’t handle the difficult task in the time frame the State wanted the project completed by.”  Constructors has been working closely with the Ready Mixed plant in Auburn and have had trucks from Auburn, Nebraska City, Tecumseh, Syracuse, Fall City and Lincoln locations hauling concrete.  “Thus far we’ve had three big pour days,” said Craig N. of Southeast Ready Mixed. “With over 1,000 yards of concrete poured on each of the three days; we’ve used 25 trucks running non-stop from our Auburn location.”

The $7.3 million Indian Cave contract looks to be one of Constructors’ bigger projects of the season.  Overseeing the difficult task at Constructors is project manager Eric A. and onsite superintendent Kelly B.

Construction on the new Kearney East Bypass has progressed quickly since breaking ground.  The activity on the bypass has recently picked up near Highway 30 as Hawkins Construction has begun work on the bridge that travels over the Union Pacific Railroad and Highway 30.  Kearney Ready Mixed is supplying the concrete that includes some difficult challenges, including working around peak highway and railroad traffic hours.

The bypass is planned to reduce some of the traffic off Kearney’s heavily used north-south corridor, Second Avenue, and will carry truck traffic to Kearney’s manufacturing plants and visitors to attractions, including The Archway, Nebraska Firefighters Museum and Education Center, Classic Car Collection and Cabela’s.  The bypass will also form a corridor for new businesses, industries and attractions.