The Concrete Cares of Nebraska’s 3rd Annual event took place on September 27 at the Archway in Kearney.  Kearney Ready Mixed and Kearney Crete & Block hosted a booth at the Concrete Cares of Nebraska Car Show and Shine.  Mike H., Bobby L., Alan J., Cole F., and Terri H., helped kids make a Pet Block for them to take home.

The event had a great turnout with kids taking home 68 pet blocks. The blocks were cut into 1.5″ x 1.5″ x 3.0″ pieces and the kids glued eyes, ears, tails and legs on them to decorate however they imagined.

Concrete Cares of Nebraska is a non-profit organization that raises funds to help local Nebraska patients fighting cancer.  The event, which featured a car show, silent auction and family fun activities raised over $8,000.

Ready Mixed Concrete and Constructors and subcontractors Commonwealth Electric, Dustrol Inc., Millard Sprinkler, Trafcon, Lincoln Tree Service and Nebraska Hydro-Seeding continue work on the Lincoln Airport Entryway Corridor Project. Construction for the project began in mid-March and is set to be complete in October. The Lincoln Airport Entryway Corridor project includes pavement repairs and streetscape enhancements along West Cornhusker Highway, W. Adams Street, and NW 12th Street.  The project is set to repair and resurface the existing pavement, new concrete turnlanes, striping, new curbs, storm drainage inlet tops and curb ramps.  Significant streetscape enhancements will also be incorporated in the project and includes district markers and pole-mounted banners with trees and median plantings as part of a separate, but coordinated project.In total, 12,775 square yards of patching/joint repair and 8,294 tons of asphalt overlay will be used on the $5.5 million dollar project funded by the city, along with donations from local Lincoln businesses.

Nebraska Concrete and Aggregates Association members Craig N. (Concrete Industries – Nebraska City), Tim H. (Ash Grove Cement Co.) and Jereme Montgomery (NC&AA) recently hosted a Concrete 101 class for Johnson County School in Cook, Nebraska.

It was another successful education program helping young students learn about the different ingredients used in concrete.  It was also educational for the students to learn all the different applications concrete has to offer.

Concrete 101 is not only a great learning experience, but it has also turned into a slight competition.  During Concrete 101, the students produced a concrete beam that was 1.0″ x 1.0″ x 18.0″ in size and tested their beam against the instructors’ beam to see who’s beam could hold the most weight.

Kearney Crete & Block and Kearney Ready Mixed recently hosted tour groups from the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) Construction Management program as well as students from Centura High School.

Both groups toured the block plant and the ready mix plant.  The 53 students from a Centura Industrial Arts class learned about material and how to figure concrete with a concrete slide rule.  The UNK students were part of Dr. Ken Larson’s Construction Management class and were more focused on the technical aspects of concrete production, including the different mix designs and options for color, strength and other production variations.

A strong turnout made for a lot of happy kids, and successful day for the Kearney Area Children’s Museum as it hosted its first ‘Roadway Heroes Touch-A-Truck’ event at Hilltop Mall in Kearney.

Kearney Ready Mixed displayed a concrete truck at the event, which was designed to give children the opportunity to touch and explore the trucks, as well as provide a platform to raise awareness of safety habits around large vehicles and roadway safety.

In total there were more than 20 vehicles for children to explore, including a fire truck, military Hummer, ambulance, semi truck, snow plow, dump truck, tow truck, and many more. Proceeds raised at the event will fund future events at the Kearney Area Children’s Museum.

The Mighty Mo did its darnedest, but it couldn’t stop construction of the $32 million concrete bridge that now serves as the new gateway to Richardson County and the river town of Rulo, connecting Missouri and Nebraska.  During the past three years, Missouri River Water stranded construction barges, flooded nearby roads, damaged cofferdams and kept workers at bay for months at a time.

Construction of the bridge began in August of 2010 and was finally completed this September.  Bridge construction took place during three of the top 10 high-water years on the Missouri, including the devastating flood of 2011, and the project was completed only a year behind schedule.

The Rulo bridge project included work from three NEBCO companies.  Southeast Ready Mixed supplied 10,350 cu. yds. of concrete for the bridge, as well as all of the concrete for the new paving on roadways leading up to and around the Rulo Bridge.  Constructors handled the concrete pour for the roads inside Rulo as well as on Highway 159.  In total, there was over 24,000 sq. yds. of 8″ and 9″ concrete paving.  Concrete Industries supplied 46 concrete girders totaling 6,400 feet for the approach slabs on both the Nebraska and Missouri side of the bridge, 3,200 linear feet of reinforced concrete pipe for various projects around the bridge, and 25 tons of rebar used on culverts.

The 2,400-foot concrete bridge replaces an iron bridge that was built in 1938-39. The old bridge is located about 650 feet away from the the newly constructed bridge.

Falls City recently celebrated the completion of a new Grain facility in their community. Southeast Ready Mixed supplied 10,844 cu. yds. of concrete for the project out of their Falls City Plant. The project began in December of 2012 and Consolidated Grain and Barge celebrated their Grand Opening in September.

The ribbon cutting by Governor Heineman on August 27 indicated the opening of Kearney’s newly completed Interstate 80-East Kearney Bypass Interchange and the completion of Phase 1 of the planned bypass around Kearney.  Kearney Ready Mixed provided concrete to Commercial Construction Inc. for the deck of the bridge spanning Interstate 80.

Phase two of the project will begin in 2014 with an estimated build time of two years.  The second phase will extend the four lanes north and add a U.S. Highway 30 interchange and overpass.

Overland Ready Mixed recently completed work on a 240,000 sq. ft. Pioneer Distribution Facility in York.  With a project of this size and a short time frame to complete it in, workers were faced with a demanding deadline that affected many Overland employees.

It took the crews six days, beginning on June 27, to supply 6,000 cy of concrete to the new 5.5 acre (240,000 sq. ft.) Pioneer Distribution facility.  Litchko Contracting, Inc. from Lenexa, Kansas was on site to place the concrete.  “Installing the six slabs was a big team effort and Overland was a huge player on the team,” Brian Cutting of Litchko explained, “I have heard nothing but positive comments regarding service, quality, and safety, and all of our efforts have helped meet and exceed the customer’s expectations.  We would like to extend our appreciation to Overland for the great service provided for the whole Pioneer Seeds Project.”

To complete the project in the time frame given, seven truck drivers, a batchman, a quality control tech., and loader operator began their work days at 1:00 am each day.  As drivers maxed out their hours, the operations manager, salesmen, and shop personnel stepped in to assist.  All seven plant managers and their teams were needed to complete the job on schedule.

On January 9th & 10th several NEBCO companies participated in the Nebraska Concrete & Aggregates Association “Quality Concrete Conference.”  This was the 54th year for the annual event.  The Quality Concrete Conference was held in both Kearney and Omaha with over 250 attendees present.  This year’s theme was “Quality Concrete through Innovation.” A handful of speakers discussed various topics such as – Innovation with Concrete Overlays, Challenges of Non- Roadway Concrete Paving, Innovations and Trends in Decorative Concrete, and Everything Old is New Again.  NEBCO employees from Kearney Ready Mixed, Christensen Concrete, Overland Ready Mixed, Western Sand & Gravel, Lincoln Ready Mixed Concrete, Concrete Industries of Nebraska City, Kerford Limestone and General Testing Lab attended.