Otay Bridge Gets Thumbs Up

Engineers faced many challenges with the Otay River Bridge in San Diego, Calif.  Environmental sensitivity, seismic design standards, and minimal site disturbance all emerged as factors in the project.

The bridge, chosen as one of the winners of the 2008 PCA Bridge Awards, is a critical link that carries four lanes of traffic across the wide Otay River Valley, a seasonal river and environmentally sensitive area that is home to a number of protected plants and animals.

Construction needed to take place with minimal site disturbance while adhering to strict constructability and seismic performance standards. This was solved with the selection of a segmental bridge. Spanning a total of 1,012 meters, the bridge is broken into ten spans of 90.5 meters and two end spans of 53.5 meters. It has a twin trapezoidal box girder configuration connected by a longitudinal cast-in-place concrete closure. The contractor used the balanced cantilever method of construction where the segments were delivered over the completed portion of the deck to minimize site disturbance.

Jurors cited the Otay River Bridge as a model for bridge construction—achieving the goals of constructability, seismic performance, and environmental sensitivity.

Outlook Weakens for Canadian Construction

Deteriorating market demand lead by downturns in the West signal a weakening outlook for Canadian construction and cement, according to a Canadian forecast released by PCA last week.

Overall construction spending is expected to decline 3.5 percent this year and an additional 5.1 percent in 2009. The housing sector is particularly hard hit, with new housing projected to decline by more than 9 percent next year and multifamily housing down 11 percent.

PCA expects portland cement use in Canada to decline by 3.5 percent this year followed by a 5 percent decline in 2009. Signs of improvement begin to emerge in late 2009 and 2010, when the economy and construction iimprove.
Contact Dave Czechowski

New Cement Use Reports Available

PCA has released a new series of reports on the apparent use of portland cement. The reports track cement usage in 2007 by market group on the state, county, and metro area level.

The new reports include:

The 2007 Apparent Use of Portland Cement by County and Market Group report provides consumption on a state and county basis for each of the 12 major construction market groupings.

The 2007 Apparent Use of Portland Cement by State and Market report estimates portland cement consumption in 49 construction classifications for 56 state and partial-state geographic areas. 

The 2007 Apparent Use of Portland Cement by Top-50 Metro Areas and Market report provides the same 49 construction classifications as in the state and market report, but for metro areas.

Also available are projection updates for the current Portland Cement Trend Analysis by County reports.  This is available to those who have purchased the reports this year at no additional cost.
More at www.cement.org

Assisted-Living Facilities Coming Under Stricter Fire Codes

PCA and allies have long educated building code officials on the need for non-combustible passive fire protection in buildings, especially for assisted living facilities (ALF). Now, in what industry advocates hope is a trend, states are recognizing that ALFs should come under the same fire code requirements as nursing homes and hospitals.

The State of New Jersey has modified the International Building Code (IBC) to include ALFs in Group I-2 occupancies, which includes nursing homes and hospitals.  This will require that all ALFs housing more than 16 people be built to the same construction requirements as nursing homes and hospitals, including requirements for one-hour non-combustible construction for facilities more than one story in height and two-hour non-combustible construction for such facilities more than three stories in height.  

The IBC assumes that all residents of ALFs can respond to an emergency without the assistance of staff, and currently permits one-hour fire rated wood-frame construction to be four stories in height. The New Jersey modification recognizes that many ALF residents have limited or no mobility and are not able to respond to an emergency without assistance. 

A similar modification is being considered in Virginia and a proposed code change is being developed for submittal to the IBC.  PCA and industry allies are actively supporting these efforts.
Contact Steve Szoke

Ash Grove Earns Clean Air Award

Ash Grove Cement Company's Midlothian, Texas, cement plant earned the "Working for Cleaner Air Employer of the Year" award from the North Texas Clean Air Coalition (NTCAC).

Ash Grove received the top 2008 award for North Texas companies with less than 500 employees at events with civic and business leaders in Dallas and Fort Worth.

The Midlothian plant is the first Texas cement manufacturer recognized in the five-year history of the program and received the award for the company's successful efforts to control nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. The facility was one of the first wet process cement plants in the world to install Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR) technology to successfully control ozone-forming emissions.

Since 1995, Ash Grove has reduced NOx emissions by more than 64 percent at the Midlothian plant. The plant also has the lowest NOx emissions levels of any wet kiln facility in the U.S. and, to company knowledge, the lowest in the world.

Giant Cement Receives Business Education Partnership Award

Giant Cement Company recently accepted the Business Education Partnership Award given by College of Charleston and The Education Foundation at their recent Business Education Summit.

Woodland High School nominated Giant Cement for the strong business education partnership that they have created. Since 2000, Giant has sponsored a Career Workshop that teaches students how to prepare for job interviews.

Additionally, Giant employees have contributed their time and talents and enthusiastically participated in mentoring, job shadowing, and career fairs. The Company also supports academic and athletic scholarships and awards, and has also provided the school with classroom materials and supplies.

Messersmith Honored by Code Group

PCA’s Jim Messersmith, coordinating manager of regional code services, was presented with two awards at the recent annual conference of the Virginia Building and Code Officials Association (VBCOA). 

He received The President's Award for Excellence for his efforts and dedication to education of code enforcement personnel, his vigilance in maintaining up-to-date knowledge of the codes, promoting professionalism through his personal assistance to the members of VBCOA with code interpretations, and distinguished service to Virginia’s construction community and citizens at the state and national levels. 

He was also presented with the Member At Large Meritorious Service Award in recognition of his exceptional service, interes,t and commendable initiative in promoting better building code enforcement and code development and in promoting the public safety, health, and welfare as they relate to construction in the Commonwealth of Virginia. 

Messersmith has been active in VBCOA for over 35 years, 29 of which have been while employed by PCA.

Readers Pessimistic on Bailout

Do you think the financial bailout passed by Congress will ease the credit crunch and its effect on construction?

>Yes (34 percent)

>No (66 percent)

Notable Comments:

"No, unless the media begins to say positive things about the economy. Until that happens, people won't spend and banks won't lend."

"It is congressional B-usines-S as usual. No real leadership,no transparency, and a waste of tax dollars with lots of pork so they can all claim victory with the warm fuzzies."

"The psychology is worse than the circumstances. More deflation to come."

"A better solution would have been to unleash the capital in 401K plans and IRAs by allowing Americans to exchange retirement account assets for foreclosed/distressed properties. This approach would quickly eliminate the toxic assets held by banks. It would also cause a demand for housing while strengthening retirement portfolios for millions of Americans who are helplessly watching their retirement savings vanish."

"The credit market will need time to get back in gear. I believe innovative construction like concrete homes and the renovation business is what we need to concentrate on and should accelerate construction demands in the future."

Take the current PCA Poll