Think Concrete Blog

• Construction Recovery Pinned to Job Growth

  Posted On: November 18, 2011

  Job creation is key to improving many economic indicators, including recovery of construction, concrete, and cement.

  Even with an economic recovery, construction levels will remain at new floor levels and lead to relatively flat cement consumption until 2014, according to the most recent economic forecast from the Portland Cement Association (PCA). ...

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  Category: Market Intelligence

• Senate Committee Clears Highway Bill

  Posted On: November 09, 2011

   According to media reports today, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st  Century Act, or MAP-21.

   

  The bill reauthorizes the federal-aid highway program at current funding levels plus inflation for two fiscal years.

   

  Says Associated Press reports:

   

  "The ...

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  Category: Transportation funding

• MAP-21 Offers Two-Year Highway Reauthorization

  Posted On: November 07, 2011

  Last week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee released the text of its two-year highway authorization bill.

  Called "Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century" or MAP-21, the bill is a bipartisan effort of Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), James Inhofe (R-OK), Max Baucus (D-MT), and David Vitter (R-LA)....

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  Category: Transportation funding

• President Obama Urges Congress to Put Construction Workers Back on the Job

  Posted On: November 03, 2011

   

  Using Washington, D.C.’s Key Bridge as a backdrop, yesterday President Obama urged Congress to pass the transportation piece of the American Jobs Act, which will make an immediate investment of $50 billion in our nation’s transportation infrastructure and a $10 billion investment to create a bipartisan National Infrastructure Bank.

  Together, ...

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  Category: Transportation funding

• Obama Infrastucture Speech Keys on Deficient Bridge

  Posted On: November 02, 2011

  The Key Bridge is the backdrop for President Obama's remarks urging Congress to pass the infrastructure piece of the $447 billion American Jobs Act.

  The speech is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. EDT.

  The Key Bridge was one of 215 bridges found to be structurally deficient in the Washington area, according ...

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  Category: Transportation funding

• When Recovery Comes, Not All States Will Fare Equally

  Posted On: November 01, 2011

  Cement and conctete construction will remain flat over the next two years, according to the Portland Cement Association's recent regional forecast.

  And when recovery does come, not all states and construction markets will fare equally. Both the timing and strength of recovery could vary significantly from region to region.

  North ...

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  Category: Market Intelligence

• MIT Hub Uses Nanoscale Modeling In Sustainability Research

  Posted On: October 31, 2011

  Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Concrete Sustainability Hub are working on a new mixture for cement that could potentially reduce carbon dioxide emissions and boost the strength of the material without using new ingredients. According to a report in the Daily Commercial News and Construction Record on Oct. ...

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  Category: Sustainability

• Passage Unlikely, But Infrastructure Bill is Unveiled

  Posted On: October 28, 2011

  It may just be whistling in the wind, but Democrats in the Senate this week introduced legislation that would establish a National Infrastructure Bank that is similar to the one that President Obama has proposed in his jobs plan. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), would create the ...

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  Category: Legislation

• Will "The Great Regression" Continue?

  Posted On: October 27, 2011

  There was an interesting guest blog yesterday on CNBC yesterday about the compelling need for infrastructure investment. “America is in the midst of physical decline. Decades of infrastructure neglect are eroding centuries of economic progress. Call it: The Great Regression.” So states award-winning journalist and author Dan McNichol in the ...

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  Category: Transportation funding

• Latest Price Index: Concrete Shows Lowest Yearly Increase

  Posted On: October 26, 2011

  According to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI), issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the steel PPI decreased from August to September by 0.5 percent, along with lumber (0.6 percent) and asphalt (0.1 percent).  The concrete PPI increased 0.2 percent from August. Year-over-year indices, however, all increased. The steel ...

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  Category: Market Intelligence

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