The Aggregate and Ready Mix Association of Minnesota recently mailed Building Excellence Awards Submission forms to its members.  ARM sponsors the Building Excellence Awards to recognize ARM member companies for the outstanding efforts made in the course of their business.  ARM uses the awards to promote member companies and their products as well as the contractors, architects and owners associated with the entries.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD BUILDING EXCELLENCE AWARD SUBMISSION FORM

ARM is also currently accepting nominations for its Lifetime Achievement Awards and its Promoter of the Year Awards.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD NOMINATION FORM 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PROMOTER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Please direct questions regarding the Building Excellence Awards, the Lifetime Achievement award or the Promoter of the Year award to mmills@armofmn.com

In a big win for NSSGA and the aggregates industry, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit reversed a lower court decision on July 29, finding that the industry's challenge to the Army Corps of Engineers' 2002 Nationwide Permit Regulations (NWP) was final agency action and was ripe for review.

"This ruling is a victory for all our hardworking industry professionals who keep our economy pushing forward. We can now have our day in court and challenge the Corps' burdensome labyrinth of permits and paperwork," stated NSSGA President and CEO Joy Wilson.

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Source: August 2, 2005 NSSGA

Congress recently passed a six-year, $286.4 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill, the largest public works bill ever passed in the history of the United States.  President Bush is expected to sign it into law soon.
CLICK HERE for a detailed list of the outcomes of all the major issues NRMCA lobbied within the transportation bill

Source: NRMCA

After almost two long years of work and delay, Congress is finally passing the reauthorization of TEA-21.  The new bill is called: Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act – A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU).  As expected, the bill provides $286.4 billion in guaranteed spending over the six year – although the first year of the bill is already complete.  The House passed this bill recently on a vote of 412-8.  The total surface transportation contract authority is set at $295 billion, a number negotiated with the White House after including a rescission of old contract authority of $8.6 billion.

Congress passed the 11^th extension of TEA-21 to continue operations of the federal-aid highway and transit programs until midnight Saturday.  Another 14-day extension will be needed to allow for transmittal of the bill to the President and arrangements for a bill signing ceremony.  The President is expected to sign the bill.

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Source:  Minnesota Transportation Alliance – July 29, 2005

Would you like to join the Minnesota Surveyors' and Engineers' Society in its 109th year? You don't have to be an engineer or surveyor to be a member -- if you are involved with any aspect of transportation, you will be among your peers.  Please join us at our 83^rd  Fall Outing on September 14-17, 2005 at Madden's Resort on Gull Lake near Brainerd.  This event raises scholarship money for land surveying students at Saint Cloud State University, civil engineering students at Minnesota State University – Mankato, University of Minnesota, North Dakota State University, and a limited number of scholarships are awarded to midwest-regional engineering schools whose students qualify (2005-06: Iowa State University and University of North Dakota; 2004-05: Michigan Technological University and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology).  The three day event includes tournaments in golf, tennis, cribbage, shuffleboard, trapshooting, fishing, bocce ball, jarts and croquet.  It's a chance to socialize with your friends and make new acquaintances.  The informal Banquet, with valuable door prizes (including a weekend at Madden's), will be held on Thursday the 15^th at 7:00 p.m.: tickets may be acquired at the Outing with a $27 contribution.  Registration forms were sent (July 15) to current MSES members and Banquet tickets were mailed to over 100 corporations and organizations.  If you are not an MSES member, you may join at the Fall Outing -- annual dues are $30 (membership through 2006) in addition to the $15 registration fee.  If you need further information, go to www.mses.org/events.htm, email ann@mses.org, or call her at 651-457-2347.

Title IV of the recently passed "Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005: A Legacy for Users" (SAFETEA-LU) (H.R. 3) contains a number of motor carrier safety reform provisions of interest to NACA.

These provisions, including the appropriate section number in the bill, are as follows:

• Grant program authorizing a total of $5 million in commercial driver training funding over the next five years (Section 4134).
• Increased penalties for out-of-service violations and falsification of records (Section 4102).
• Reform of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's medical review process, including the creation of a National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners (Section 4116).
• Penalties for a "pattern of safety violations by motor carrier management" (Section 4113).
• A requirement that the Department of Transportation (DOT) provide persons conducting pre-employment screening with electronic access to accident and violations data (Section 4117).
• Relaxation of the rules governing diabetic drivers (Section 4129).
  

Insulated concrete walls have unique energy-saving properties that until now have been largely ignored when it comes to heating and cooling systems. HVAC systems are routinely sized based on information developed for wood-frame houses and in some cases are sized based on methods such as Manual J and the ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals. These methods can be cumbersome and do not account for the unique properties of concrete walls — their thermal mass, high level of insulation and their low air leakage and infiltration. In other cases, the sizing of HVAC systems is based on an old rule of thumb that approximates equipment size from the floor area of living space. In either case, the result is an inefficient HVAC system — one that is often greatly oversized.

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Source:  August 8, 2005 Nation’s Building News