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Ames brings a whole new meaning to “the dome”. The
end of October brought the inflation of quite a
temporary structure around the USDA Large Animal
facility. I don’t exactly know the specifics of the
length and width but it houses an entire building with
room to have three functional cranes. The height is
125’ tall and has two airlock chambers to let equipment
and trucks in and out of the project. It has plenty of
room to drive ready mix trucks around its perimeter on
the inside and house a superplasticizing station big
enough for two trucks to be side by side.
The federal government to deal with large animal
diseases and things I don’t really want to know about is
building this facility. It is being built with
containment concrete that was designed by the builder’s
CM. It is a concrete mix with a very low w/c ratio so
each load needs to be superplasticitized for flow
ability. Our spec says it has to be between 1” and 2 ¼”
when it arrives on site and no water may be added. It
is tested and then plasticizer is added to give the mix
between a 7 ½” & 8” slump. As you can see every load
gets tested 3 times…every load.
We have done over 6000 cy so far and have
approximately 2000cy to go. This facility is equipped
to open sometime in 2006.
With this job and many others I want to take a
minute and thank everyone who helped contribute to such
a successful season. Beginning with Jim, Doug, Clint,
Phil, Sarah, Brady, Bear, Wade G, Dale, Wade M, Joe,
Cheryl, Dan & Lowell. I can’t forget about Stan
either. He was always there for you when a certain job
was needed done. Also he’s fun to bet with during the
football season. I wouldn’t want two of any of them but
then I wouldn’t want to do without any “one” of them.
It’s a great team and they all work well together. The
balance comes from Brian Frame. He can get the most out
of that group of drivers day in and day out with a
little effort and a lot of patience.
2004 brought numerous paving jobs and structures in
the Ames area. To begin with next year we have a 9000
cy a paving job in a Huxley subdivision. Currently
there is a new ethanol plant being built between Ames
and Nevada. This is similar to Barilla’s as there will
be a 5 day 24/7 hr slip for the grain silo’s. We
currently have a bid in but do not know the results
yet. Talk around town still says the new mall is in the
planning stages, maybe to begin next year. That would
be a great job for both asphalt and concrete. You can
see the Ames area will be busy again next year. Thanks
for all your help this year and be expecting a call next
year. Have a safe holiday season. |
