Hanson Pipe & Precast/Northeast Region is proceeding with a $16.9 million, 62,000-sq.-ft. expansion of its Chesapeake, Va., plant. Scheduled for December 2007 start up, the new facility will house an automated production line for conventional and elliptical reinforced concrete pipe of 12- to 72-in. diameter. “We are expanding to meet growing demand for products that are in alignment with the environmentally sensitive requirements of this area,” says Eric Wheeler, president of Hanson Pipe's 26-plant Northeast Region, based in Columbus, Ohio. “The newer technology that will come with expansion only improves the quality of an already outstanding product.”

Work at the Virginia plant continues a sweeping capital upgrade across Hanson Pipe. In the past six months, the company has announced more than $100 million in retrofit and greenfield site investments, while also closing on the concrete pipe, pressure pipe and precast/prestressed plant assets of Johnson Bateman Co. (California), Price Bros. (Ohio) and Sherman Prestressed Concrete Division (Alabama). The Chesapeake plant overhaul follows a smaller 2004-05 upgrade of the company's Ashland, Va., plant near Richmond.