Well, here we are just a couple of months into the year and you can already start to feel things picking up.

Clancy and Henry have been very busy getting trucks, compressors, saws, and pickups serviced and repaired for the upcoming work season, while Jeff Herington has been tending to the paving equipment. This year we are going to have a few new items on our fleet witch will consist a new Etnyre CRS2 Emulsion Wagon, a 2006 Sterling Tandem Dump Truck, and Superior Broom.

We have a few guys busy helping get the wheels turning on our Spring Safety Meeting in March. We are hoping to have speakers from Manatts, IA DOT, and the county to name a few. Along with our safety meeting, we will also have First Aid, and a ten-hour OSHA course. The CDL holding employees will get to attend a Truck Driving School at Wendling Quarries to sharpen there skills and answer any questions they might have about Iowa’s constantly changing regulations.

The first week in March, several of us will be attending an Asphalt Pavement Smoothness Workshop in Des Moines that will carry over into The Greater Iowa Asphalt Conference. I always find these workshops to be very beneficial, whether inside the classroom with industry consultants, or in the hallway picking the brains of fellow contractors on issues that we have faced or will be facing.

To start out the work season, Larry Samon and crew will be heading to Benton County for some CRS2 work on US 218 and US 150. The job is around 40.3 miles and should take around 25-30 working days. His crew also has work in Linn County, ramps on I-80 from Malcom to Des Moines, and a few on I-35.

Larry Singer will take his crew and do various jobs in Clinton County like HWY 67, HWY 136, and HWY 130 for a total of 43.9 miles of CRS2.

Mike Weir and crew will be busy at Iowa City sometime in latter March working on color coating, and stripping tennis courts for the Hawkeyes.

The asphalt crew has some carry over to kick off the season with the Muscatine City Sewer Project, Wapello City Sewer Project, and Hon Industries employee parking lot and roadway. We are also a sub on a project in Cedar County for shoulder strengthening. Although this is just a start, the outlook is getting better for the local market as spring approaches.

Finally if you happen to stop into the office at Illowa, you will notice a few other changes besides the newly laid flooring and the crisp new paint on the walls. The faces behind two of the desks have changed. Larry Senger will be more involved in helping bid, schedule seal coat, and CRS2 crack fill. That leaves me with the challenge of finding and scheduling work for the asphalt crew. This is something I am fairly new with.  However, with the great resources here and the outstanding support from our sister companies, these transitions will pass by with ease.

HAVE A SAFE 2006 !!!