O'Hare Hotel Flies High with Concrete

The latest addition to the Rosemont, Ill., hospitality market is the four-star InterContinental Chicago O’Hare Hotel located on River Road. The 12-story, 556-room, tee-shaped hotel has approximately 500,000 gross square feet and roughly 23,000 net square feet of banquet and meeting space.

Cast-in-place reinforced concrete was chosen for the structural framing system—a common system for hotels. The building tops out at 147 feet and the typical story height is 9 feet, 8 inches. The planning team realized in the early design stages that a conventionally reinforced concrete floor system would economically achieve the programming requirements of the project and would keep the building height below the FAA-restricted level for buildings in the flight path of O’Hare Airport. An 8-inch-thick flat plate was used to help minimize the floor-to-floor heights.

The exposed exterior columns and beams, which form the façade of the building, were sized to satisfy architectural requirements. The exposed façade also resulted in significant cost savings compared to other types of systems.

Adjacent to the hotel is a 10-story precast parking garage that can accommodate parking for approximately 800 vehicles. The structure is founded on concrete caissons that extend 60 feet below grade.

Construction is currently underway to expand the hotel with another 50,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space.
Contact Larry Novak

Roanoke Cement Sponsors Trout Education

Last week Roanoke Cement Company released 350 rainbow trout into a quarry pond at their Troutville, Va., site in recognition of its new relationship with Trout Unlimited, a national organization dedicated to conserve, protect and restore North America’s trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds.

Roanoke Cement Company will provide funding for a grassroots program to raise awareness on preserving valuable watershed resources. The "Trout in the Classroom" program allows middle to high school students to observe trout growth in an aquarium setting in their classrooms and "babysit" the vulnerable fish.

The students raise the trout from eggs to fingerlings, monitoring water tank quality and engaging in a stream habitat study while realizing the goals of appreciating water resources, fostering a conservation ethic and understanding ecosystem connectivity. The mature fish are then released back into nature.

"This important sponsorship complements recent strides to improve our environmental footprint within the Roanoke Valley community," says Robert Sells, president of the Roanoke's Mid-Atlantic Business Unit. "Our corporate social responsibility value is exemplified by this commitment."

Roanoke Cement Company has a long-standing water and land management. For the last four years, the plant has held the "Catawba Creek Cleanup," a Saturday morning gathering of employees and local residents who walk the banks of surrounding Catawba Creek policing the stream.

Cement Americas Features Interview with
PCA Chair Enrique Escalante

The January/February issue of Cement Americas features an extensive interview with Enrique Escalante, chair of the PCA Board of Directors. In the interview, he discusses the impact of the current slow-down on the industry, PCA’s strategic market development plans and the cement industry’s efforts in sustainable development arena.

The complete interview is available on Cement America's Web site.
Visit cementamericas.com

Environmental Workshop to be Showcase of Cement Conference

This year's IAS/PCA Cement Industry Technical Conference, May 3 - June 4 in Palm Springs, Calif., will include a special Environmental Workshop to address a number of significant environmental issues and their impact on the cement industry. This special program addresses critical sustainability concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, mercury, and NOx. Participants will get updated not just on the current research and regulatory environment but also on what they can do at the plant level to address each one of these issues.

The presentations currently scheduled for the Environmental Workshop include:

> Toxicology of Hexavalent Chromium and Mercury, Dr. Rick Pleus, Intertox, Inc.—Dr. Pleus is the managing director of Intertox, Inc., a scientific consulting and research firm whose mission is to achieve long-term solutions to enhance public health and manage environmental risk issues.
> AB 32, CO2, Climate Change and the Cement Industry, John Bloom, Cemex, and Michael Stevens, National Cement—Stevens and Bloom will be speaking on key issues related to California Assembly Bill 32 that targets reduction of Californian greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, a reduction of about 30% and the bill's impact on the cement industry.
> SNCR and SCR and their Implications for NOx Reduction in the Cement Industry, Bob Schreiber, Schreiber, Yonley & Associates—This session will present the state-of-the-art in SNCR and SCR NOx reduction systems.
> Mercury Speciation, Evolution and Ultimate Fate in Cement Manufacturing, Connie Senior, Manager Engineering R&D at Reaction Engineering International— Dr. Senior will address control and measurement issues of mercury throughout the cement manufacturing process.
> NESHAP Update, Keith Barnett, EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards—The proposed THC and mercury amendments to NESHAP will be discussed with an emphasis on their implications for alternative fuel use and use of fly ash in the cement manufacturing process.
More at www.ieeepcaconference.org

PCA and CCT Partner for Workshops on Sustainability, Pavements

The PCA and the Cement Council of Texas (CCT) held a joint two-day workshop near Dallas on March 23-24, focused on sustainable development and promoting key markets in Texas.

The first day’s workshop, conducted by CCT, focused on the association’s  integrated pavement promotion and high-performance building envelope programs.  Highlights included talks by allied organizations such as National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, the Texas Aggregates and Concrete Association, the Texas Concrete Pavement Association, and the Precast Concrete Manufacturers Association of Texas, discussing complementary goals and promotion efforts.

PCA Sustainable Development staff David Shepherd and Kelly McGinnis presented  the first of a series of "Concrete Thinking for a Sustainable World," workshops on the second day.  The seminar highlighted tools for positioning cement and concrete products within sustainable development. Six additional regional presentations are planned.
Contact David Shepherd or Jan Prusinski

House Budget Committee Evaluates FY 2010 Transportation Funding

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Budget Committee recently held an important hearing in preparation for the upcoming debate on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 federal budget and the next authorization of the surface transportation law (SAFETEA-LU).  SAFETEA-LU is scheduled to expire on September 30.

The hearing focused on the increasing disparity between domestic surface transportation needs and the necessity for additional revenue to finance them. The Highway Trust Fund, which is the principal source of revenue for building and maintaining the nation’s surface transportation network, is no longer viewed as a viable funding source.

Key witnesses providing testimony at the hearing included Debra Miller, representing AASHTO and Robert Atkinson, chairman of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission. Both witnesses testified that at least $545 billion would be needed from 2010 to 2015 to adequately meet federal surface transportation infrastructure needs, essentially doubling the size of the current program. According to Miller, “…the current highway and transit programs will generate $260 billion, leaving a funding gap of $210 billion” during the same five-year period.

Options being explored to fill the gap include new fuel taxes, fees on freight, more tolls, and creating a new vehicle-miles-traveled funding system. A portion of revenue from any new carbon tax or cap-and-trade system could also be invested in certain transportation projects.
Contact David Hubbard

Department of Defense Announces a $7.4 Billion Project List for Stimulus Funding

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) appropriated approximately $7.4 billion for Department of Defense (DOD) related projects.

The funds are allocated across three main categories: military and family housing construction ($2.3 billion),  facilities sustainable, restoration and modernizations ($4.2 billion), and research, development, test and evaluation plan ($300 million).  In addition, ARRA provides $555 million for a homeowners assistance program.

The funds allocated under military and housing construction include resources for the construction of military hospitals, child development centers, warrior transition complexes and other construction projects such as housing for the troops and their families, energy conservation, and National Guard facilities.

The Military Construction and Operation and Maintenance Appropriations provided through ARRA are available for obligation through the end of fiscal year 2013 and fiscal year 2010, respectively.
Contact John Sullivan
View a state-by-state DOD project breakout list.