Cornerstone Standards Council auditors have conducted an audit of the open non-conformances at Miller Paving Ltd.'s Carden Quarry and is pleased to announce that the site has demonstrated conformance with all minor non-conformances identified in the July 3, 2017 assessment report. 

LafargeHolcim has acquired Tarrant Concrete, a leading provider of ready-mix concrete in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in Texas. This transaction will strengthen LafargeHolcim’s existing operations in one of the most attractive and biggest ready-mix concrete and aggregates markets in the U.S.

June 15, 2018 - Matt McDonald has been appointed as the new OSSGA representative on the Mining Legislative Review Committee (MLRC). He succeeds Jim Clark who was the industry member for many years. 

June 15, 2018 - The Manitoba government has released the Co-chairs’ Report on the Manitoba–First Nations Mineral Development Protocol, which includes key findings and recommendations on ways to create certainty in order to advance mineral development projects in a timely way, Growth, Enterprise and Trade Minister Blaine Pedersen and Indigenous and Northern Relations Minister Eileen Clarke announced, along with co-chairs Ron Evans, former chief of Norway House Cree Nation, and Jim Downey, former Manitoba deputy premier and cabinet minister.

June 14, 2018 - CDE and Resolve Aggregates are delighted to be hosting a demonstration event at Resolve Aggregates' site in Ravenna, Texas, on Wednesday, June 27. The Open Day will provide visitors with a unique opportunity to see the latest wet processing technologies implemented by CDE.

June 5, 2018 - The MHCA’s Winnipeg and the Aggregate Producers Committees are preparing suggestions to assist the City of Winnipeg in its quality assurance process for aggregate bases in road construction, which may include a complete change in the testing process and/or more frequent base testing.

May 30, 2018 - The provincial government has made good headway on resolving issues around applications to open pits and quarries and can support those gains by forming a minister’s advisory committee, MHCA president Chris Lorenc says.

May 30, 2018 - Anyone involved in the aggregates sector will tell you that crushing is a serious business. Running a crushing operation with the utmost efficiency can mean the difference between being in the black or in the red. One key factor for having a crushing operation run successfully is having a strong safety culture in place. It has been proven in the aggregates and roadbuilding sectors, that a company’s safety culture is often tied to the overall success (or failure) of its operations.

May 29, 2018 - Peter Graham was recently hired as the new director of municipal relations for the Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (OSSGA). Rock to Road sat down with Graham and asked him about his decades of experience in the heavy building materials sector, his goals as OSSGA's newest director, and any advice he might have for companies looking to improve their municipal relationships. Here’s what he had to say.

May 29, 2018 - Castle Rock Enterprises has grown to become a go-to company when it comes to aggregates, civil works, rural roadbuilding and other infrastructure needs throughout Whitehorse and other regions within The Yukon. It’s an impressive feat that was performed in a relatively short period of time.

May 23, 2018 - Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) is gearing up to test its electric site solution before the end of the year. The company is currently building a fleet of eight prototype HX2 autonomous, battery-electric load carriers. As well as a fleet of HX2s, other prototype machines that make up the electric site system include the LX1 hybrid wheel loader and the EX1 cable-connected excavator. Skanska Sweden will incorporate the demonstration machines into its operations and test the electric site concept at a quarry in western Sweden for 10 weeks at the end of 2018.

Good infrastructure is that which delivers the best life-cycle value to those who depend on it and those who have to pay for it. Good infrastructure can only be accomplished by sound planning and consistent investment, both in the context of new construction and in support of maintenance and refurbishment. This is true regardless of whether we are talking about clean water supply, wastewater treatment, transit, or, of greater interest to readers of this publication, roads and bridges.

During CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2017, John Deere announced it was entering a strategic alliance with Kespry designed to simplify drone integration on construction jobsites.

People travelling near Chilliwack and Hope, B.C. along Highway 1, soon will enjoy an easier drive with 42 kilometres of resurfacing work starting next week.

The final section of the ring road includes more than nine kilometres along the west side of the city between Highway 8 and the Trans-Canada Highway. Once complete, the Calgary Ring Road will provide 101 kilometres of free-flow travel around the city.

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, on behalf of the Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport, recently announced a major investment of $102.5 million for a project that will reduce the cost of essential goods and help local businesses compete by moving goods to market.

The Hedley Bridge replacement project on Highway 3 will start this week, while the existing bridge in Hedley is replaced with a new, two-lane structure.

June 15, 2018 - Budget 2018 included funding to expand the southwest portion of the ring road from four to six lanes. With design work expected to be finalized later this year, construction for the project is expected to begin in 2019. It is anticipated that the project will take three years to complete.

June 15, 2018 — The Manitoba government is accepting expressions of interest (EOI) from across the province to identify priority cost-shared infrastructure projects, Municipal Relations Minister Jeff Wharton announced at the Midwestern June District Meeting.

June 15, 2018 - Five resurfacing projects have begun in the Skeena and Bulkley-Stikine districts, to improve safety and efficiency of highways 37 and 118, and on Tow Hill Road, east of Masset.

June 14, 2018 - Paving is finished, and the new pedestrian and cycling tunnel is open, marking the completion of the South Slocan Overhead project.

June 14, 2018 - From fixing gravel roads to twinning more stretches of 100-series highways to rehabilitating the province’s third-longest bridge, Nova Scotia’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR) has assembled an ambitious five-year highway improvement plan.

Bridgestone Americas (Bridgestone) has announced a $12-million investment that will expand production to include popular off-the-road (OTR) tire sizes at its Bloomington, Ill., plant. The plant will produce multiple sizes and patterns in 29, 33 and 35-inch OTR tires, which until now have only been produced by Bridgestone in Japan.

Excavators are great. They are the superheroes of modern construction, but even the most super excavators can run into trouble in the wrong hands...

Atlas Copco Power Technique has announced that Mikael Andersson has been appointed general manager of its North American customer center, effective July 16, 2018. Andersson will lead the company in growing each of its core product categories — air, power and flow — within the contractor, dealer and rental segments across the U.S. and Canada.

When telematics solutions were first introduced, fleet managers and owners were excited at all the possibilities to optimize their operations that the data they received from their fleets offered them. But in recent years many fleet owners and operators have grown out of love with telematics. This is due to the amount time they’ve had to dedicate staff members to filtering through the almost infinite amount of data available, to find the information they require to run their operations more efficiently. This is a fair complaint, of course, since the main advantage of telematics systems is supposed to be that they will save operations time and money. Several equipment manufacturers have recognized this issue and having been releasing solutions to counter this issue.

The Brawler Solidflex HPS solid tire line, from Trelleborg Wheel Systems, has been selected as the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) solid tire option for Cat medium wheel loaders and small wheel loaders from Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives.

In May 2018, Liebherr-France in Colmar began the series production of the new R 926 Compact excavator. This new model continues Liebherr’s compact excavator product line but with a Stage IV / Tier 4f emission standards compliant engine and other developments compared to its Stage IIIB model. The new R 926 Compact joins the ranks of Liebherr’s compact machines in the 15 to 35 tonne weight range.

Doosan Infracore North America, LLC, has extended its wheel loader lineup with the new DL280-5 wheel loader. The new DL280-5 is part of the popular category of 3- to 4-cubic-yard wheel loaders. The Doosan DL280-5 is designed to provide operators with enhanced performance and comfort as well as increased uptime protection when working in general construction, scrap and waste-handling applications.

The spotlight was firmly on Terex Washing Systems (TWS) at the recent Hillhead Show, Buxton, U.K., with two new products on display — the impressive AggWash 300, a screening, scrubbing, sizing and sand recovery for recyclable aggregates, all on one modular chassis, and Terex AquaClear, the first water management treatment system from Terex.

Liebherr-Hydraulikbagger GmbH develops and manufactures innovative attachments and quick coupler systems to the highest quality standards. They can be used for both hydraulic excavators and material handlers from Liebherr as well as for machines from other manufacturers. The Liebherr product portfolio ranges from quick coupler systems for all applications through digging tools for the earthmoving sector to grabs for diverse applications in material handling technology.

EvoQuip launched the Cobra 290R crusher at the recent Hillhead Exhibition in the U.K.

Telsmith, Inc., a leading manufacturer of mineral processing equipment, has designed and engineered a 900-horsepower cone crusher solution for aggregate and mining operations.

June 14, 2018 - Are you a talented, young professional in your company who wants to grow with SC&RA? Or do you know of a promising young industry professional? Applications are now being accepted for The Leadership Forum at the 2018 Crane & Rigging Workshop in Louisville, Ky. on Sept. 26.

June 13, 2018 - Workers using personal fall protection systems sometimes instinctively grasp their systems’ rope grabs during falls. Some commercially available rope grabs are manufactured with “anti-panic” features that enable the rope grabs to work properly by locking onto the lifeline even when they are grasped. Some workers use Prusik slings as rope grabs. A Prusik sling, however, does not have an anti-panic feature. Therefore, grasping a sling’s Prusik knot can prevent the knot from tightening around the lifeline, allowing the worker to fall.

June 13, 2018 - The Alberta Sand & Gravel Association recently announced upcoming networking events for its members across the province.

June 12, 2018 - Registration is now open for the 2018 Crane & Rigging Workshop, Sept. 26-28, in Louisville, Ky. 

May 15, 2018 – Western Canada’s biggest event in trucking and transportation welcomed drivers, families and top industry executives May 11 and 12 in Abbotsford, B.C. TRUXPO 2018 brought a wide selection of trucks for all trades, in addition to plenty of features and activities, from a half-day conference to family day and educational seminar sessions.

May 11, 2018 - Contractors have always faced unique challenges connecting the field, the office and the maintenance operations to effectively manage heavy construction projects. A new study from Dodge Data & Analytics, in partnership with B2W Software, shows that software solutions—and especially mobile capabilities—can generate improvements in the ability of contractors to gather accurate and timely data from the field, control costs more reliably, and manage and maintain their equipment fleets more efficiently.  

May 10, 2018 - TRUXPO, Western Canada’s largest event in trucking and transportation, is gearing up for its return to TRADEX in Abbotsford this week on May 11 and 12. Held every two years, the show will feature a range of returning and all-new features, as well as expanded exhibit categories.

April 25, 2018 - OSSGA’s Rehabilitation Tour 2018 is coming soon! Don’t miss this opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge and best practices in rehabilitation with a focus on specialty crops and biodiversity in the Niagara Region. This one-and-a-half-day event features dinner, presentations and a full-day rehabilitation site tour. 

April 18, 2018 – The Ontario Road Builders’ Association (ORBA) is now accepting applications for its Civil Engineering and Civil Technology Scholarships.

April 12, 2018 - Join WorkSafeBC and the BC Construction Safety Alliance on Thursday, April 19, for an Occupational Disease Symposium.

April 11, 2018 – Atlantic Canada’s most comprehensive heavy equipment show took place this past Thursday and Friday, April 5th and 6th in Moncton. The 32nd edition of the Atlantic Heavy Equipment Show sprawled over 200,000 square feet of the Moncton Coliseum Complex showcasing heavy iron, and the supporting products and services that keep forestry & road building industries running day in and day out.