For the 16th time in as many years, Haymarket Park – the home of the Saltdogs – was selected ‘Best Playing Field’ in the American Association, as voted by league managers and media.

Josh K. has been the Athletic Turf Manager at Haymarket Park since 2006. In addition to the 11 American Association titles, he also helped earn the ballpark ‘Baseball Field of the Year’ in the College/University division by the Sports Turf Management Association in 2007 – the second time Hawks Field at Haymarket Park earned that national award.

“Each year I appreciate this award more and more as each year brings a new set of challenges,” Josh said. “There are some really good playing surfaces in the league so we definitely don’t take this award for granted.”

As a member of the Northern League, Haymarket Park garnered the award from its inception in 2001 through 2005, and has continued the title reign through all 10 seasons of American Association play.

“Congratulations to Josh and his staff for another job well done,” Saltdogs President/GM Charlie M. said. “So many opposing players and coaches tell me this is one of the best playing surfaces they’ve ever played on.”

Prior to his time at Haymarket Park, Josh served as Athletic Turf Manager at the University of Oklahoma in 2005, Assistant Turf Manager for the Cleveland Indians minor-league affiliate in Lake County (Ohio) from 2003-2004, and as an intern with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2002.

Josh added: “I can’t possibly thank my assistant Jeremy J. enough. His attention to detail and knowledge of this industry is top notch. It takes a team effort and I must also thank Marcus L., Mike M. and our interns this year: Logan L. and Robyn S.; along with our entire turf/landscape crew for their countless hours behind the scenes. The biggest challenge each year is the number of events on the field due to the sharing of the facility between University of Nebraska and Lincoln Saltdogs, but without their positive working relationship we would not be able to produce the best possible product for our players, nor achieve our goals each year.”

For more team and ticket information, please visit saltdogs.com.

Repair work and reconstruction continues to progress on Highway 2 in Lincoln. Constructors, Inc. crews began working on the NDOR project in May with the majority of the 4.4 miles of construction taking place at night to avoid full segment closures during daytime traffic. Road closures are allowed beginning at 7 pm Monday through Friday with the road opening back up at 6 am for public convenience.

The project stretches from Old Cheney Road to the Van Dorn Street intersection along Nebraska 2. The scope of the project includes pavement repair consisting of 5,000 CY concrete patchwork, 4,000 LF concrete curb repair and 19 inlet top replacements along with, bridge repair and 2″ mill and asphalt overlay using 24,500 tons of asphalt.

Constructors wrapped up the pavement repair phase on July 6 and began work on the Milling/Overlay segments from Old Cheney to 27th Street and 27th to Van Dorn.

On any given night the project requires nearly 50 employees from NEBCO companies including Constructors personnel, Trafcon employees and Ready Mixed drivers.

Six concrete silos topped with nearly 90 crew members dominated the landscape just east of Syracuse, NE for over five days. Once completed, the silos will store up to 1 million bushels of corn and soybeans and be the heart of Midwest Farmers Cooperative’s planned rail shuttle complex.

Concrete Industries – Nebraska City supplied 3,600 CY of concrete for the project which required three shifts of drivers, batchmen & quality control technicians. The lead contractor, Hogenson Construction, had crews pouring around the clock with massive floodlights illuminating the site at night. The continuous pour lasted 125 straight hours totaling approximately 342 truckloads of concrete.

“Whether you were on the slip pour or not, it took all of us working together to make it happen,” Craig N. of Concrete Industries Nebraska City said, “With Ready Mixed Concrete Lincolns’ help on the silo pour and Beatrice Concrete helping cover some of our other pours, we were able to complete the project in 125 hours; 15 hours ahead of schedule.

The 9-inch thick walls raised 12-inches per hour to a height of 140 feet. All concrete was chipped from Concrete Industries’ Syracuse Plant.

The Downtown Lincoln Association (DLA) announced the winners of their 2015 Downtown Impact Awards at their annual meeting. DLA’s Impact Awards recognize businesses or individuals that have made a significant contribution to downtown Lincoln. NEBCO was awarded the Significant Development award for 3 Landmark Centre.

The 3 Landmark Centre development was completed in 2015 and took several talented groups and hardworking individuals to complete the project, including: Sampson Construction, Clark Enersen, and NEBCO’s development team and material companies.

The building on 1128 Lincoln Mall includes 110,000 premium square feet of Class A office space and currently houses the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, Rembolt Ludtke, Unico Group and US Senator Ben Sasse.

Current and future tenants will certainly enjoy several building amenities including covered visitor parking, a top floor penthouse suite with an outdoor patio and a courtyard featuring an illuminated cage, a structure filled with aggregate that emphasized, in art form, the connection between NEBCO’s real estate and material operations.

The origins of 3 Landmark Centre date back to the late 1920’s when the first parcels of land were acquired by George P. Abel, Sr. In 1964, the City passed a bond issue combining the city of Lincoln and Lancaster county government functions to its present location at 555 S. 10th. This event triggered a renewed interest by NEBCO in acquiring additional property along Lincoln Mall between the Capitol and the City/County Offices and the construction of 2 Landmark Centre. NEBCO’s 1 Landmark Centre was developed in 2002. In 2012, NEBCO purchased the last parcel of property needed in making Landmark 3 Centre possible, completing the Lincoln Mall vision of George P. Abel, Jr.

In the end, the building’s address says it all, which shares the birthday of Betty Abel, whose motto has always been, “When you do something, do it well.”

Concrete Industries Structural Division recently completed the first phase of testing on the new 16” hollowcore section. The load testing was completed at the Peter Kiewit Institute located at University of Nebraska-Omaha under the direction of Dr. George Morcous.

The 16” hollowcore forms were purchased primarily for use on podium structures where the owners/architects of these mixed use buildings are requiring longer spans with increased load requirements. A podium structure is built with a concrete deck comprised of hollowcore, inverted tee beams and columns which in turn support three or four floors and a roof of light frame construction (wood or metal stud). The lower level has primarily been utilized as a parking garage and storm shelter.

Since there are two different uses, the structural grids do not align requiring the bearing walls from the light famed structure above to be placed on the center span of hollowcore. The center span of hollowcore and IT beams are the primary load carrying element in the building. Once hollowcore exceeds 12 ½” in depth, the building code permits only half of the shear capacity at the ends of the section, which can be a significant design hurdle in these heavily loaded members.

In order to provide an economical design solution for our clients, CI Structural decided to perform load testing to prove this reduction in capacity was not required, therefore removing the hurdle. Additionally, the first phase of load testing indicated the section has significant ductility along with stable post cracking behavior. The 4’-0” wide section supported 85,000 lbs while deflecting 10 inches without failure. The testing was stopped because the testing equipment had reached the maximum deflection.

The second phase will further define the shear capacity of the section but the first phase demonstrated 65% capacity without deformation. The testing and final report will be completed at the beginning of March.

NEBCO has been awarded the Fit-Friendly Worksite Award from the American Heart Association for the 4th year in a row. The American Heart Association recognizes employers who go above and beyond when it comes to their employees’ health. They want to reward organizations for their progressive leadership and concern for their staff.

The Fit-Friendly Worksites program is a catalyst for positive change. Worksites throughout the nation can be part of the initiative by making the health and wellness of their employees a priority. NEBCO Inc. was recognized as a Gold Level Fit-Friendly Worksite by the American Heart Association’s My Heart. My Life. initiative for offering employees physical activity support, promoting a wellness culture and implementing at least nine criteria as outlined by the American Heart Association in the areas of physical activity, nutrition and culture.

NEBCO is honored and excited to be recognized once again by the American Heart Association. Physical activity and employee wellbeing are very important priorities within our organization and all of our employees and their families are encouraged to get involved!

The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association honored Ready Mixed Concrete-Lincoln with the 2015 Commitment to Environmental Excellence Awards at its ConcreteWorks Conference & Expo held in San Antonio in Late September. The College View Plant in Lincoln received Honorable Mention recognition in the category of plants with production volumes between 50,000 yds. to 100,000 yds. The program offers producers national recognition for protecting the environment and maintaining sound environmental management practices.

The NRMCA Environmental and Safety Committee and its Environmental Task Group underscore how award candidates have not only met, but surpassed governmental compliance requirements and demonstrated commitments through plant and staff investment. Eligible plants include those sites under NRMCA producer members located in the U.S., its territories or Canada. Environmental Excellence Award entries are divided into categories based on production volumes.

The College View Plant in Lincoln returns to the Environmental Excellence program after being recognized in previous years. Since recognition in 2013, Ready Mixed Concrete has received the Nebraska Industrial Council Environmental Leadership Excellence Award for innovation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 staff concluded an inspection by observing how the plant’s SWPPP performance exceeds permit requirements. With strong management practices across environmental, safety and fleet operations, Ready Mixed Concrete staff have provided site tours for agency representatives from Lincoln and Omaha, and peers in ready mixed and precast concrete industries.

Constructors and Concrete Industries have been hard at work at Indian Cave State Park, located in the southeast corner of Nebraska. Working alongside Mainelli Wagner & Associates, Inc. engineers, the Nebraska Department of Roads and Nebraska State Parks, Constructors plans to lay more than 40,000 square yards of 8” thick concrete and 30,000 tons of asphalt between April 2015 and June 2016, when the project is expected to be complete. The project includes all roads, trails, drainage and sewer improvements and a larger, newly paved boat dock and storage area.
“Constructors was the only company to bid on the project,” said Randy H., President of Constructors. “With the difficult hilly terrain and isolated location, I honestly think most other companies couldn’t handle the difficult task in the time frame the State wanted the project completed by.”

Constructors has been working closely with the Ready Mixed plant in Auburn and have had trucks from Auburn, Nebraska City, Tecumseh, Syracuse, Fall City and Lincoln locations hauling concrete. “Thus far we’ve had three big pour days,” said Craig N. of Southeast Ready Mixed. “With over 1,000 yards of concrete poured on each of the three days; we’ve used 25 trucks running non-stop from our Auburn location.”

The $7.3 million Indian Cave contract looks to be one of Constructors’ bigger projects of the season. Overseeing the difficult task at Constructors is project manager Eric A. and onsite superintendent Kelly B.

For the 15th time in as many years, Haymarket Park – the home of the Saltdogs – was selected ‘Best Playing Field’ in the American Association, as voted by American Association league managers and media.  Josh K. has been the Athletic Turf Manager at Haymarket Park since 2006. In addition to the 10 American Association titles, he also helped earn the ballpark ‘Baseball Field of the Year’ in the College/University division by the Sports Turf Management Association in 2007 – the second time Hawks Field at Haymarket Park earned that national award.

“Each year I appreciate this award more and more as each year brings a new set of challenges,” Josh said. “There are some really good playing surfaces in the league so we definitely don’t take this award for granted.”  As a member of the Northern League, Haymarket Park garnered the award from its inception in 2001 through 2005, and has continued the title reign through all 10 seasons of American Association play.

Josh is assisted by Jeremy J., Jen R., Marcus L., Tyler L., and the game day turf crew.

OL&B Railway recently added a new locomotive to their fleet. The new locomotive is a GP38-3 and is numbered OLB 47. The old locomotive, previously numbered OLB 47, will now be identified as OLB 12. OLB 47 was rebuilt similarly to how BNSF and Union Pacific rebuild their 4 axle locomotive fleets so that knowledge on repairs and parts availability will be much better than OLB 12, which was on year 24 since it’s rebuild. OLB 47 is equipped with a rebuilt motor, traction motors, and received new electronics upgrades that are the latest in the industry. The new improvements increases adhesion (tractive effort) and improves diagnostics. OLB 12 will live on in the OL&B fleet but will be used primarily as a backup.

The new locomotive is rated at 2,000 horsepower and 87,000 lbs. of tractive effort which is how railroads measure pulling effort. OLB 47 is a 500 horsepower increase over OLB 12 and its new electronics provide approximately 20,000 lbs. increase over OLB 12. The new locomotive is FRA compliant and will be capable of operating on BNSF and UP lines if it is ever needed.