Concrete Industries Nebraska City operates ready mixed concrete plants in Nebraska City, Syracuse, Auburn, Tecumseh and Falls City. In addition to delivering concrete to southeast Nebraska, southwest Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, CINC also offers concrete block, bagged products, aggregate and other building materials at the Nebraska City location. CINC has produced Large Retaining Wall Block with recycled concrete for years but recently began producing other precast products. The new endeavor has provided additional winter jobs allowing drivers to work through the winter season as well as an additional revenue source for the location.

The production process has been a lot of trial and error to perfect the mix and to find the best way to produce high quality products in an efficient manner. In addition to large retaining wall block, CINC is now producing parking curbs, splash blocks and pyramid blocks. A lot of the product is sold to lumberyards and hardware stores. The splash block is used by homeowners to improve control of downspout runoff while the pyramid block provides a simple and economical method for deck construction.

Using a portable hopper attached to a forklift, the crew can pour up to 17 splash block forms, 64 pyramid block and 15 curbs. The process takes about one day before the product is removed from the forms and the next batch is started.

The precast products are also sold at other NEBCO companies including U-MIX Products, Reimers Kaufman, Watkins, Kearney Crete & Block, and Christensen Concrete Products.

The construction of a new $25 million Waste Water Treatment Plant for the city of York, Nebraska located on 35 acre plot outside the city a few miles to the east began in March 22, 2017 and so far is on schedule for completion in the spring of 2019.

When this project for the city is completely finished they will have an aeration building that will be 156′ x 108′ in size and 17′ deep, enough to hold 2.1 million gallons. Along with the Aeration basin there will be the headworks building, a secondary treatment building, secondary clarifiers, a disinfection contact basin, a biosoilds holding tank and an operations building. Also, there are 2.6 acres of land on the western portion of the property that will have five reed bed areas that will be specially established to catch any possible leaching (from sludge) so the material can be taken back to the disinfection basin. The reeds will consume the sludge in a natural, biological way.

Approximately 7,000 cubic yards of concrete will be used for the building structures. With 75% of the Concrete in place, Overland Ready Mix in York has provided Hawkin’s Construction, who is doing all the work on this project, with 7,100 cubic yards of concrete and approximately 1,667 tons of fill sand.

This new Treatment Plant should give the City of York a minimum of 50 years and can easily be expanded to 100 years with upgrades.

The Beatrice Fire & Rescue team conducted a training session at the Beatrice Ready Mixed Plant on Jan. 9, 2018 bringing in firefighters and EMT’s from all 3 shifts in order to have everyone trained in case of an emergency. The main focus of the exercise was to educate the emergency personnel on the confined spaces Beatrice Concrete employees could potentially be working in. Fire & Rescue personnel evaluated and came up with the best possible way to evacuate injured employees from the central mixer, and overhead bin spaces.

Beatrice Concrete was thankful for their willingness to assist in setting up this training exercise that may save valuable time should we ever need the assistance of Beatrice Fire & Rescue at the plant facility.

According to a report from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (www.ccohs.ca), many workers are injured and killed each year while working in confined spaces. An estimated 60% of the fatalities have been among the would-be rescuers.

The words “Never Forget” are often used around Veteren’s Day referring to the men and women who have served in the U.S. Military.  For Concrete Industries – Nebraska City Ready Mixed Driver Rick W. and his Fiancé and Gold Star mother, Noala F. it has become an everyday mission of theirs to honor the fallen by volunteering their time to the “Remembering Our Fallen” traveling tribute to ensure those who died in the war against terror in both Iraq and Afghanistan are never forgetten.

After nearly a decade of providing free honor flights for veterans to visit the nation’s war memorials in Washington, Bill and Evonne Williams came up with the idea to create a traveling tribute to all of the fallen soldiers since 9/11. All the pieces for the traveling tribute were coming together when the group realized they were going to need a DOT license to transport the tribute towers. Noala, who became acquainted with Bill and Evonne Williams while speaking at a veteran’s event about her son who died in 2007, jumped at the opportunity to suggest Rick had a CDL. Rick gratefully accepted the opportunity to help.

The “Remembering Our Fallen” outdoor display now travels state to state to ensure the memories of these lives are never forgotten. The display consists of 27 towers with 3 panels on each tower which are double sided and feature nearly 5,000 soldiers.

The new outdoor display was unveiled at Pinnacle Bank Arena before being taken to a county fair in Minnesota. Rick then drove it to the Nebraska State Fair before it was sent off to Washington DC for a national unveiling at the National Mall. Rick then took the display to Hampton, Va., Charlotte, N.C., and Allentown, Pa. In November, Rick will help drive the truck and trailer in the New York City Veterans Day Parade.

While describing a moment at a recent stop where a visitor stopped by the tribute every day and stood speechless, Rick says that it is an honor to help with the display, noting the range of emotions you experience from the visitors and being there for them. “There are a ton of emotions involved, it puts a big smile on one person’s face and makes the next person cry,” Rick says.

“Our eternal hope is that we honor the memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice and to bring comfort,” said Noala, who helps facilitate the tribute as it travels across the country. “I tell people my son is on the wall, and when you look at it, to me he remains alive. He remains a viable part of my life and other people’s lives when they see these pictures.”

To help transport the display Rick devotes all of his vacation time to the “Remembering Our Fallen” project. In total, Rick has logged 2,500 miles driving and 9,200 flying miles to move the display from one location to the next.

Costco will be opening the doors to their new 156,000 square-foot Lincoln store in October and NEBCO Companies will have played a large roll in the construction process.

The Washington based warehouse retailer is building their newest location in South Lincoln at 16th Street and Pine Lake Road.  Construction for the new store included the involvement of Ready Mixed Concrete, Reimers Kaufman, U-MIX Products, Concrete Industries, Constructors, Trafcon and Beatrice Sand & Gravel.

Ready Mixed Concrete is supplying a total of 6,000 CY of concrete for the project including 3,000 CY for the interior of the building and 2,800 CY for the rest of the project, including footings and other placements.  Lottman Carpenter out of Diller, NE is the Concrete Contractor for the project.

Constructors involvement includes all of the offsite paving while Trafcon handles the traffic control and offsite pavement marking.  Constructors is also doing the onsite asphalt drives and parking lot as well as the crushed rock base course, which was supplied by Beatrice Sand & Gravel’s Sietz Quarry.

Reimers Kaufman supplied 6,800 Standard Gray Units, 13,077 Standard and Rockface Colored Units from Northfield/Oldcastle, and 17,682 Quick Brik 4″ high units from Miller Material/Oldcastle.

U-MIX supplied 75 yards of bulk mortar and 125 yards of core-fill masonry grout.

Concrete Industries supplied approximately 3,000 LN FT of reinforced concrete pipe from 15” diameter through 48” diameter for storm water drainage.  Concrete Industries also supplied 7 manholes totaling approximately 75 VF for sanitary sewer.

The Nebraska Trucking Association announced the winners of the 2017 Nebraska Truck Driving Championship, held June 2-3 in Grand Island.  Dan Z. of Beatrice Ready Mixed earned 2nd place in the Mixer truck competition.  In addition to Dan, NEBCO was represented by two other drivers.  This annual event offers Nebraska’s best professional truck drivers a chance to demonstrate knowledge, talent and skills in a competition highlighting what it takes to be a safe driver on today’s streets and highways.  102 drivers participated in this year’s championship in eleven classes.  Additional awards were presented based upon scores in: written examination, personal interview, pre-trip inspection and driving test.  Nebraska Trucking and the Championships have a long tradition of a positive working relationship with the Nebraska State Patrol Carrier Enforcement troopers.  Participants were competing for first place which included an all expense trip to Florida to compete at the national championships.

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.