Sources: American Concrete Pavement Association, Rosemont, Ill.; CP staff With a World of Concrete 2025 backdrop, American Concrete Pavement Association officials emphasized better use of state highway agency resources in light of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act funding limits now evident to transportation construction stakeholders. In addition to spotlighting the economic and environmental sustainability attributes…
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State DOTs land Low Carbon Transportation Materials grants
The Inflation Reduction Act-funded Low Carbon Transportation Materials Discretionary Grant Program will provide $1.2 billion with reimbursement and incentive funding to purchase American-made low carbon construction materials and products, primarily concrete, asphalt, glass and steel. The program is part of the White House Buy Clean Initiative, which leverages federal government buying power to spur demand for materials or products of…
Read MoreFHWA, EPA draw a line in the sand for Low Carbon Transportation Materials
Federal agencies have spent more than two years reviewing carbon dioxide emissions associated with load-bearing construction material processing or production. Officials recognize regional or local factors affecting the CO2 emissions profile of concrete, asphalt and steel, and have positioned 2025 as a turning point for procurement terms applicable to federally funded transportation and building work. The Federal Highway Administration took…
Read MoreFHWA sets Low Carbon Materials Program Concrete Thresholds
Sources: Federal Highway Administration; CP staff The Federal Highway Administration has published the driving metric—global warming potential (GWP), measured in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per cubic yard (kgCO2e/yd.)—attending nine concrete mix classes specified for cast-in-place or precast transportation pavements, elements and structures. The Concrete Thresholds tables provide GWP data that Low Carbon Transportation Materials (LCTM) Grants recipients require to meet…
Read More39 state DOTs land Low Carbon Transportation Materials grants
Sources: Federal Highway Administration; CP staff The Inflation Reduction Act-funded Low Carbon Transportation Materials Discretionary Grant Program will provide $1.2 billion with reimbursement and incentive funding to purchase American-made low carbon construction materials and products, primarily concrete, asphalt, glass and steel. The program is part of the White House Buy Clean Initiative, which leverages federal government buying power to spur…
Read MoreUncertainty tempers optimism in construction outlook survey
Researchers in the Construction Services Group of Marcum LLP, a leading accounting and advisory firm in New York, paint an overall positive view of current and future market trends in their just-released 2024 Marcum National Construction Survey. Key findings gleaned from responses to a 27-point survey of executives in building and nonbuilding markets include: “Despite the challenges facing the…
Read MoreEnergy Department powers promotion of low carbon construction materials
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) authors’ recognition of technology transfer hurdles and risk-averse specification tendencies in construction is evident in a slew of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office and National Laboratories initiatives supporting low carbon materials awareness and procurement. The DOE Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO) is eyeing a National Laboratory-led Cement and Concrete Center of Excellence to accelerate…
Read MoreAdapting to Change
A visit with American Concrete Pipe Association Chair Tom Hartley Few are better suited than Tom Hartley to take the reins as 2024 American Concrete Pipe Association chair while members and staff execute a new strategic plan. With a tenure spanning 29 years at Rinker Materials, he has played a pivotal role across the enterprise, including tours in finance, mergers…
Read MoreConstruction outlook survey: ‘Optimism tempered by uncertainty’
Sources: Marcum LLP, New York; CP staff Researchers for the Construction Services Group of Marcum LLP, a leading accounting and advisory firm, paint an overall positive view of current and future market trends in their just-released 2024 Marcum National Construction Survey. Key findings gleaned from responses to a 27-point survey of executives in building and nonbuilding markets include: “Despite the…
Read MoreConcrete producers lead the way in federal agency’s Buy Clean agenda
The White House and General Services Administration have marked the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)-funded low embodied carbon (LEC) construction materials procurement program pilot, noting “a dramatic increase of thousands more environmental product declarations used to identify sustainably-manufactured construction materials over the past year. EPDs are a key tool for gaining visibility into a product’s environmental impacts…
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