Concrete Technology, WSDOT push the envelope with record 223-ft. girder

Sources: Washington State Department of Transportation; CP staff Washington State DOT and Guy F. Atkinson Construction have mapped a two- to three-week January schedule to place the final precast, prestressed concrete girders for the three-span, southbound Interstate 5 Puyallup River Bridge in Tacoma. To eliminate piers along BNSF and Union Pacific rail lines paralleling the water, engineers enlisted Federal Way,…

Read More

LafargeHolcim measures building enclosure prospects in Firestone deal

Sources: LafargeHolcim Ltd., Zurich; CP staff LafargeHolcim projects a second quarter closing on a $3.4 billion deal for Nashville-based Firestone Building Products (FBP), the largest acquisition in the company’s five-year history and one stretching well beyond its cement, aggregate and ready mixed concrete production competencies. With a full range of EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer), thermoplastic polyolefin, PVC, asphalt and…

Read More

EPA rule clears traditional opaqueness in science justifying regulatory actions

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; CP staff A new rule establishes that when promulgating significant regulatory actions or developing influential scientific information, the Environmental Protection Agency will give greater consideration to studies where the underlying dose-response data are available in a manner sufficient for independent validation. The rule does not require the release of personally identifiable information or confidential business…

Read More

U.S. Geological Survey reveals limits of climate change projections

Sources: U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior; CP staff A new report from the USGS—the indispensable source of portland cement, crushed stone and sand & gravel shipment data—stresses the need to factor uncertainties attending climate change predictions, especially as models link present greenhouse gas emission levels to earth temperature trajectories through the year 2100. 

Read More