Bottomline

City commissioners will consider establishing a no parking zone on the west side of Hilltop Drive between Harvard Road and Oxford Road. The prohibition on parking is proposed to run from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Background

The city's Traffic Safety Commission last month unanimously recommended approval of the no parking zone after a neighborhood resident expressed concern about backing out of her driveway with so much on-street parking allowed. But commissioners also have heard from another neighbor who is concerned about losing on-street parking.

Recognition

Recognition of CadreLawrence and Lawrence Business Magazine Foundation Award winners.

Consent agenda

Approve all claims. The list of approved claims will be posted to the agenda the day after the City Commission meeting.

Approve licenses as recommended by the City Clerks Office.

Approve appointments as recommended by the Mayor.

See more here:
Lawrence City Commission agenda for April 15

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise To Scott Muzenski, the large crack that weather and wear had caused in the driveway of a parking structure at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) presented an opportunity to test his research.

Muzenski, a civil engineering graduate student, had been working on a new kind of high-performance concrete created in the lab of associate professor Konstantin Sobolev. Their cement composite is a durable, water-resistant and malleable paving material with such a high level of crack control that the researchers estimate it has a service life of 120 years or more.

To compare, the average life span of concrete roads in Wisconsin falls in the 40-50-year range, with up to 10 percent of reinforced bridge decks needing replacement after 30 years.

In August, a crew of 25 students joined Muzenski in patching the driveway using the unique material. Then, in order to track whether the material was indeed holding up better than ordinary concrete, they gave the 4-by-15-foot slab the ability to monitor its own performance.

About an inch below the surface, the students embedded electrodes in this smart concrete that are linked to a data acquisition system located behind an adjacent retaining wall. This is going to tell us whether water is getting into the material and how deep it goes, says Muzenski. It also detects the presence of chloride ions within the material, and senses load and stress as vehicles pass over it.

Later this year when the software is completed, the real-time data will be fed wirelessly to an online repository.

Well be able to observe the performance of concrete as it happens, in real time says Sobolev.

The slab project will confirm two important features of this hybrid concrete, called a Superhydrophobic Engineered Cementitious Composite (SECC): its superior durability and its smart capability.

See the rest here:
At Long Last: A Concrete That's Nearly Maintenance-Free

Home | Back

April 9th, 2014 9:49 pm by Nick Shepherd

It's that time again. Spring brings April showers, May flowers and the inevitable springtime scams.

One of the most prominent scams that takes place this time of year involves paving. Leslie Earhart, public information officer for the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office, said the department sees scams pop up every year.

"We receive numerous reports of home-improvement scams each year," Earhart said. "Paving scams are the most common. Unfortunately, in many cases elderly residents are targeted."

While telephone based scams are still common, when the weather changes, officers warn people to be wary of unknown solicitors, especially offering work at a discounted price.

"One of the biggest scams to watch out for is when the contractor shows up at your door claiming to have a supply of leftover asphalt that he is going to have to throw out, so he will offer it to you at a discounted rate," said Tom Patton, public information officer for the Kingsport Police Department. "This is nearly always a scam."

Earhart added that sometimes the scammers will offer the discounted rate but raise the price as the job goes on, and if the victim argues about the price, the scammer will intimidate the person until they get more money.

Many times, the person will be left with a driveway that starts to crumble after only a week.

Patton and Earhart offered a few tips to avoid being scammed this spring.

See the article here:
As temperatures rise, scams begin to bloom

Paving Investigation
Henderson County authorities are warning residents to beware of a man that may be going door to door, offering to pave your driveway. One Fletcher woman said...

By: WLOS News 13

Read more:
Paving Investigation - Video

Who is the oldest person you know? goes the television commercial. Twice in the past month I was grieving for the oldest people I knew. First for Frank Klein, then about a week later for Aunt Mary Jane Wilson.

Mary Jane died peacefully in her house-atop-a hill near Carlisle, Pa, where she had raised her four sons and her daughter since about 1940, and worked as office manager in the familys paving operation when her husband died in 1971. Years ago Mary Jane went to see a doctor about a misaligned toe. He said it would need surgery. She laughed and said, No, thank you, that she was 68 and probably wouldnt need it for more than a few years anyhow. She lived until 2014, still walking on the same pair of feet. Her eyes started to give her trouble, but otherwise she was in better shape than I am.

Mary Jane was the last survivor of my parents generations. She was married to my mothers youngest brother, and was the mother of my Wilson cousins. They are owners and operators of Wilson Paving in Carlisle, Pa. and enjoy a reputation for honesty and dependability. The youngest is the only female, Fern, a freelance chef widely admired by foodies in the Harrisburg and West Shore area.

My mothers youngest brother fell in love with airplanes, learned to fly, taught others, was part of the barnstorming scene that World War II interrupted. Uncle Frank shrugged and turned his little airfield near Carlisle into a training school for the U.S. Army Air Corps. After the war, materials were hard to come by. Frank found it easier to make and pour his own asphalt, both on the runways of Wilson Field and later on the driveway of his home, launching the paving business that still supports his family.

Mary Jane told me years later how they met. She was saving her money for a cross-country train trip when the war broke out and curtailed travel. So she decided on flying lessons instead, at Wilson Field. Her instructor said she was hopeless, couldnt learn. Frank stuck up for her, saying she just had a very light touch. He told her later that she impressed him because, of all the young women hanging around the airport, she was the only one who refused a cigarette. He was a reformed smoker, and fanatic about it. They married. J.Frank was 40, Jane 16 years younger. He bought a hilltop surrounded by Cumberland Countys cornfields, and on top of it they built mostly by hand a house of flagstone and timber, with a quarter-mile long straight driveway where his pals could land their airplanes.

That house. From its hilltop above the world, you can see summer storms smudging the horizon, lightning blazing, corn lying flat before the wind while the sun shines and the corn stands serene beside the long driveway. I was there the night a neighbors barn burned. From two miles away it was like watching from above the earth, first a thin column of smoke, then billowing flames, while fire trucks and volunteers converged, lights visible and sirens audible from great distances.

Mary Jane was quiet and thoughtful, absolutely unflappable, always with time to visit despite babies underfoot and her work keeping the books for the company. She kept her hair pulled back in a tight bun I never saw it any other way and managed the sprawling house built in the Southwestern style she and Frank had admired in their travels. Frank was the youngest of the Wilsons, the second to die. One by one, death claimed them all, and their spouses. Mom was the last of the siblings. Mary Jane, Franks widow, survived them all and became the matriarch. Last year when we drove up to visit, I had the same moment of disbelief: That green-stained wood and stone house, more like a spaceship hovering gently, for about 72 years now, its roof needing work, the stain a bit faded.

And Mary Jane? As usual, she met us in her big kitchen, somehow smaller now, but just as pleasant. She was nearly 95 years old. She still answered the phone part-time, still exuded a curious matter-of-fact vivacity, still lived alone in her hilltop house. Dont let the name Frank confuse you. Father Frank his devotees called him, and despite a long life that touched the lives of so many others, its doubtful my aunt and my dear friend would have ever met.

The Rev. Frank O. Klein was born in Pittsburgh and was 93 years old when he died in March. A resident of Arbor Terraces, Father Frank had lived for nearly a decade here in Peachtree City plenty of time for an enterprising, congenial fellow to make a legion of friends to heap upon the many he made during his pastoral calls. A graduate of Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, he also graduated from the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary (now Trinity) For years he drove himself to call on members of Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church here in Peachtree City. They called him a visitation pastor until budget considerations cut the program.

He understood things like that from his own years in several pulpits, and just kept on visiting. I think he would have paid the congregation to let him continue. That wasnt necessary, and he was still visiting parishioners almost until he died. His smile was his trademark, augmented by both hands waving a greeting across a room. His hugs were so comfortable. And according to insiders, attendance at his Bible studies was breaking all records.

Excerpt from:
Frank and Aunt Mary Jane

Leavenworth, KS - infoZine - In an order entered last week in Leavenworth County District Court, Judge David King ordered Carl Bailey and Mike Gaede, doing business as Baileys Construction and CTC Construction, to repay a Leavenworth County consumer $17,500 he had paid the company for paving his driveway. The court found that the defendants committed five violations of the Kansas Consumer Protection Act in the transaction. The judge also ordered the defendants to pay a $100,000 civil penalty and refrain from engaging in business activity in the State of Kansas.

In March 2012, the defendants solicited the consumer at his residence to perform asphalt paving services. The defendants told the consumer he was getting a good deal because the asphalt materials were left over from a previous job. Before the paving was complete, the defendants demanded payment of $1,750, which the consumer agreed to. Because the consumer could not write very well, he requested the defendants write the check out for him. The defendants then wrote the check for $17,500.

The court found that the defendants presented the consumer with an invoice that contained no business address or notice of the consumers right to cancel. The defendants also failed to inform the consumer verbally of his three-day right to cancel. The defendants then cashed the check before waiting the required five business days. The court found these actions violated the Kansas Consumer Protection Act.

Related Tips on staying safe from rip-offs Link http://www.InYourCornerKansas.org

Visit link:
Pavers Banned from Doing Business in Kansas

BERRYVILLE -- The end is in sight for the construction project to install a traffic light and widen U.S. Highway 62, said an official from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.

"They started [paving] this morning," said Stacy Burge, resident engineer for the AHTD, who is overseeing the project. "I don't know if they got rained out, but they should get done by the end of next week. So it will be about two weeks."

Once the paving is complete the highway department will stripe the road, or paint it, and then turn on the light, Burge explained.

"It has gone well, but like any project, there have been some bumps in the road," he continued. "We would have been able to finish last fall if it was not for the weather. It has been a really bad winter and last year in August we had some abnormal rain. We got several inches of rain that we don't normally get and that delayed us."

The project started more than two years ago by the AHTD, Burge estimated. But the city had to begin before the AHTD to lay the groundwork for the project, which included moving city utilities such as water and sewer lines, as well as running the utilities to the light, said Kirby Murray of Berryville Public Works.

Also, the city had to pay an approximate $8,000 to run the power lines under and along the highway because the AHTD had put the control panel on the opposite side of the road from the light, Murray said. The city also had to pay nearly $18,000 when the primary contractor for the project, Journagan Construction, broke a water line.

The construction crew that broke the line has claimed that they performed the necessary steps before digging by calling and confirming their plans with Arkansas One Call. AOC is an agency that notifies excavators of underground utilities before they begin working. Murray said that his crew had marked the line that was broken several times before the digging began, so AOC would have notified the construction company of the water line.

Journagan Construction was paid an approximate $9.4 million for their contract, according to AHTD records. They were asked to reimburse the city for the water line, but they have not indicated that they will to the council or mayor's office, said Mayor Tim McKinney.

"I am sure they will be just as happy to leave as everybody else will be to see them leave," McKinney said. "It has been a long project, but when it is all done, I think it will be an improvement."

McKinney will be addressing the issue of reimbursement at the next council meeting -- tonight -- to see if the aldermen are interested in taking the matter to court, he said.

Read more here:
Let there be light

A paving company must repay a Leavenworth County resident and is now banned from doing business in Kansas, according to a news release Thursday from Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

The release said Leavenworth County District Court Judge David King last week ordered Carl Bailey and Mike Gaede to repay a customer the $17,500 he had paid them, doing business as Baileys Construction and CTC Construction, to pave his driveway.

In March 2012, the defendants approached the consumer at his residence and asked if he would like them to pave his driveway with asphalt. They told the man he was getting a good deal because the asphalt materials were left over from a previous job. Before the paving was complete, the defendants demanded payment of $1,750. The man agreed, but asked the defendants to fill out the check because he was unable to write well. They filled out the check for $17,500.

King found the defendants presented the consumer with an invoice that contained no business address or notice of the consumers right to cancel. The defendants also failed to inform the consumer verbally of his three-day right to cancel and cashed the check before waiting the required five business days. The judge found their actions were in violation of the Kansas Consumer Protection Act.

The judge also ordered Bailey and Gaede to pay a $100,000 civil penalty, and refrain from engaging in business activity in the state.

Here is the original post:
Asphalt company banned from doing business in Kansas

GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. Snow and ice this winter has left potholes and cracks in many driveways across the Piedmont.

Its kept people like Chris Rogers busy the past few weeks patching up driveway after driveway, laying down asphalt.

He owns Quality Asphalt and Seal Coating in Thomasville and says because of the damage his business has nearly doubled.

Phones are ringing off the hook right now, Rogers said.

He says besides city streets, driveways have taken a pretty severe beating from Mother Nature.

With the traffic on it, it just makes it bigger, he said.

Brian Richardson of Loflins Paving in Sophia says hes been called out as far as Rockingham County to fix damaged driveways.

Asheboro area, High Point [and] we go to Greensboro sometimes, Richardson said.

Do-it-yourself asphalt and sealers have been flying off the shelves at the Lowes in High Point.

We filled this here yesterday, said sales associate Bob Kirk, referring to asphalt bags. Its half gone already.

Read this article:
Fixing potholes and cracks caused by winter weather

At the St. Francois County Commission meeting Tuesday, the commission discussed a driveway damage claim.

Associate Commissioner Gay Wilkinson said the insurance company denied the claim.

Its on Stormy Lane at Rivers Bend South. There is a driveway that appears to me to be damaged by salts or something that is degrading it. The claim from the resident was that our salt and cinders that were thrown out at the stop sign has caused that or accelerated it to do that.

"He has made a formal claim that we submitted to our insurance company and they found that the county had no liability, that we were not grossly negligent in anything we were doing and denied the claim, said Wilkinson.

The resident, Bryan Larkin, was asking the county to override or disregard the insurance companys decision and repair his driveway.

This started last year and there were just a few spots and I thought I could overlook it. But this year more salt trucks came through and now its really torn up.

"It has eaten the top up pretty good and all Im asking is to have my driveway fixed and nothing more, said Larkin.

County Highway Administrator Wendell Jarvis said they just cant stop throwing salt in that area.

There is an incline and its at a stop sign. If we dont put salt down people will be sliding all over the place when they are trying to take off, said Jarvis.

After much discussion the commission decided to contact the insurance company and find out why they didnt physically go out to look at the reported damage. They said they would talk to some concrete people and get back to Larkin on the issue.

Read the original post:
Commission discusses driveway damage claim