Construction Bulletin articles from June 2006

Construction Bulletin archives from June 2006

Trenchless Technology Is on the Rise.
June 2, 2006... Staff Trenching underground became easier with new technology that promotes the trenchless method, which saves time, energy and disruption. As summer approaches in the Midwest, construction in many areas increases and drivers must slow...

Highway 38 Sets New Standard.
June 2, 2006... By Christina Fisher. The ongoing success of Highway 38 in Itasca County has been the result strong leadership, cooperation among its stakeholders and years of hard work - all of which came together to create an award-winning project that...

Professional drivers receive awards.(Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association awards Howard Ronken)(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... Staff Howard Ronken, Midwest Specialized Transportation, Inc., Rochester, Minn., has been named Truck Driver of the Year by the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) at its annual conference in April. Ronken has driven more...

MUCA receives three awards.(Minnesota Utility Contractors Association )(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... Staff The Minnesota Utility Contractors Association (MUCA) won three 2005 Chapter Awards of Excellence, announced before NUCA's 2006 Washington Summit and Spring Meetings in June. MUCA received awards of excellence in periodical...

BOR-SON To Build Condo Development.
June 2, 2006... Staff BOR-SON Construction, Inc. announced that it was selected by The Wall Companies, a Minneapolis development firm, to build a new luxury condominium building in one of St. Paul's oldest and most historic neighborhoods. Construction has...

Braun Intertec Opens Mankato Office.
June 9, 2006... Staff Mankato, Minn.-- Braun Intertec Corp., an engineering and environmental consulting and testing firm, opened a regional office in Mankato, Minn. located at 153 Chestnut Street. The office will cover an area from the southern end of...

Contractor Receives Safety Award.
June 9, 2006... Staff St. Paul, Minn.-- JLC, Inc., a Twin Cities general contractor, received a Governor's Safety Award for workplace safety and health from the Minnesota Safety Council at a luncheon in May. Since the company started in 1999, JLC has a...

New President At Bor-son.
June 9, 2006... Staff Minneapolis, Minn.-- BOR-SON Construction, Inc. announced the retirement of Raymond Schwartz, president and chief executive officer, and the election of Gary Heppelmann, executive vice president, to succeed him. A construction...

Kraus Anderson Joins Fund Raiser.
June 9, 2006... Staff Minneapolis, Minn.-- Kraus Anderson Companies Inc. will again help sponsor the 2006 Walk for Hope to help raise money for worthy and underserved charities promoting families, health and wellness. The target charity is Adopt-A-Room,...

Reconstruction Of Highway 2 Begins.
June 9, 2006... Staff Duluth, Minn.-- Reconstruction and reconfiguration of U.S. Highway 2 and various local roadways in the city of Cohasset, Itasca County, is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, May 30, 2006, according to MnDOT's District 1 office. Project...

Eminent Domain Takes Effect.
June 9, 2006... Staff St. Paul, Minn.-- The eminent domain law is in effect in Minnesota as of May 20. Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the bill that restricts local governments' abilities to seize private homes and businesses for economic redevelopment. The...

Carlson School Will Expand.(Carlson School of Management )(Brief article)
June 9, 2006... Staff Minneapolis, Minn.-- Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota can begin construction this fall on a new building after the Minnesota legislature approved $26.6 million for the project before it adjourned. The...

Committee Discusses 3-d Software.
June 9, 2006... Staff Minneapolis, Minn.-- The Construction Industry Cooperative Committee of Minnesota (CICC) held a discussion on using the Building Information Modeling (BIM) computer-based systems to see building plans in three dimensions. BIM has...

Construction Starts Increase.
June 9, 2006... Staff Atlanta, Ga.-- Reed Construction Data announced that the value of construction starts from January through April 2006, excluding residential projects, increased to $87.9 billion. This is an increase of 32.9 percent from April 2005....

Concrete's Use Soars Around the World.
June 16, 2006... Staff Advancements in technology, methods and materials boost concrete's stability, leading to its popularity as a construction material. Concrete has come a long way, but most people think of concrete as a modern day building...

Editor's Report.
June 16, 2006... By Ivy Chang In 1994, Carl Pohlad, owner of the Minnesota Twins professional baseball club, announced that in order for his team to remain competitive with American League rivals, public assistance was required for construction of a new...

Schoep appointed president.(Park Construction Company appointed Verlyn Schoep as its new president )(Brief article)
June 16, 2006... Staff Park Construction Company appointed Verlyn Schoep as its new president and chief executive officer in March. Schoep started working with Park in 1994 as a project manager/estimator. In 1997 he was promoted to field operations...

New store concept opens.(celebrated the grand opening of its Rental store )(Brief article)
June 16, 2006... Staff True Value/Radio Shack in St. James, Minn., celebrated the grand opening of its new Just Ask Rental store on June 2 and 3. The new store-within-a-store is at 423 First Avenue South in St. James. Craig Hurley, store manager, said, "We...

SuperTarget to open in St. Paul.
June 16, 2006... Staff St. Paul's City Council voted unanimously to approve a SuperTarget to be built in St. Paul, the first urban SuperTarget in Minnesota. The new store will be 186,000 square feet, built on the site of a former hotel and next door to a...

Highway 36 to be closed.
June 16, 2006... Staff State Highway 36 through North St. Paul will be closed for about five months in 2007, from mid-April to mid-September, to build improvements that will reduce traffic congestion. The highway will be rebuilt between Highway 120...

Bobcat donates to Red Cross.
June 16, 2006... Staff Bobcat Company, a division of Ingersoll Rand, donated $66,738 to the Minn-Kota Red Cross at the Minn-Kota Red Cross Education Center, Fargo, N.D., to help with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts along the Gulf Coast. To raise the...

Concrete additive.(polymer material added to concrete sealers )(Brief article)
June 16, 2006... Staff SURE-STEP slip-resistant additive, a product of W. R. Meadows, is a finely ground polymer material added to concrete sealers for slip resistance. It provides approved chemical and abrasion resistance, and its low density and...

NUCA releases software.
June 16, 2006... Staff The National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA) announced the release of its new Trenchless Assessment Guide (TAG), an easy-to-use interactive software designed to help utility engineers and designers evaluate the trenchless...

ASCC catalog.(American Society of Concrete Contractors )(Brief article)
June 16, 2006... Staff The American Society of Concrete Contractors published its 2006 Product Catalog that lists publications on general concrete information, decorative concrete, safety and insurance, and includes videos, DVDs and clothing accessories...

Tilt-Up Construction Advances the Concrete Market.
June 16, 2006... Staff It's no secret that tilt-up construction is a growing market and is quickly becoming a preferred building method in both the private and public business sectors. The advantages of tilt-up are efficiency, cost savings and less time...

Schradle dies.
June 23, 2006... Staff Richard (Dick) Schradle, 74, died on June 6 after battling pancreatic cancer. He spent his career in heavy construction equipment sales and marketing, and his retirement serving as board member, consultant, friend and advisor to many...

AEM reps appointed.(Association of Equipment Manufacturers appoints Darrin Drollinger and Nick Yaksich )(Brief article)
June 23, 2006... Staff Two Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) vice presidents have been appointed to serve on the Industry Trade Advisory Committees, a public-private partnership designed to ensure industry input into U.S. trade policy...

Company helps contractors.(Profit Builder Network LLC)(Brief article)
June 23, 2006... Staff The Profit Builder Network, LLC was formed to help contractors in the building construction, remodeling and maintenance industries through training, advice and peer networking. Ted Capistrant, founder and president of the St. Paul,...

Transmission lines proposed.
June 23, 2006... Staff CapX 2020 alliance, a group of electric cooperatives, municipals and investor-owned utilities, proposed a $1.3-billion effort to build new electricity transmission lines to upgrade the Midwest region's power transmission capability....

Wind farm begins construction.
June 23, 2006... Staff The Oliver Wind Energy Center began construction of a 50.6-megawatt wind generation facility in Center, N.D. F.P.I. Energy will own and operate the center, and Minnesota Power, a division of Allete, Inc. in Duluth, Minn., will buy...

S.D. highway costs compared.
June 23, 2006... Staff The South Dakota Department of Transportation statistics showed that highway projects had fewer bidders per project in calendar year 2005 than in 2004, but the costs of all projects contracted were higher in 2005. The Construction...

Scholarships offered.
June 23, 2006... Staff The Minnesota County Engineers Association offers seven annual $1,000 scholarships to civil engineering students, two attending the University of Minnesota, one attending North Dakota State University, one attending South Dakota...

Contractors win awards.
June 30, 2006... Staff Two contractors received recognition at the annual meeting of MEDA, the Metropolitan Economic Development Association, a Minnesota non-profit organization that helps minority businesses start and grow their businesses. David Bice ,...

County builds new centers.(Washington County )
June 30, 2006... Staff Washington County is building two new service centers and one new library serving the county's northern residents. In May, groundbreaking ceremonies were held in Cottage Grove for a facility serving southern county residents. At the...

Diesel rule enforced.
June 30, 2006... Staff On June 1, refiners and importers must ensure that the sulfur content of at least 80 percent of the volume of the highway diesel fuel they produce drops from the current level of 500 parts per million (ppm) to 15 ppm, a 97-percent...

Caterpillar plant will close.
June 30, 2006... Staff Caterpillar, Inc., the worldwide maker of mining equipment, engines and other heavy equipment, will close its New Ulm plant by the end of 2006, the company announced. Fifty employees work at the New Ulm plant, which makes paving...

Case approves biodiesel.
June 30, 2006... Staff Case Construction Equipment is the first construction equipment manufacturer to approve the use of B5 blends (5-percent biodiesel and 95-percent petroleum-based diesel) in all of its mechanical engines. The company also announced...

Foundation creates Trust.
June 30, 2006... Staff The Deep Foundations Institute (DFI), a non-profit association of contractors, engineers, manufacturers, suppliers, owners, and educators, has created the DFI Educational Trust, an independent charitable trust. Goals of the Trust are...

Unweave the Weave.(rebuilding the interchanges of I-35E and I-694)(Brief article)
June 30, 2006... Staff An ambitious four-year project to rebuild Interstate 35E and Interstate 694 northeast of St. Paul is underway. Dubbed "Unweave the Weave," the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) is rebuilding the interchanges of I-35E and...