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Ongoing correction in the residential market will continue to adversely impact construction activity and cement consumption in 2007, predicts the Portland Cement Association (PCA). Despite a strong performance in the commercial and public sectors early in 2007, the decline in cement consumption this year could exceed three percent, says PCA. PCA?EUR??,,????'???s spring forecast had predicted a 1.5 percent decline in cement use. PCA Chief Economist Ed Sullivan reports that record housing foreclosures will worsen the housing inventory situation and prolong the downturn in new construction activity in this sector. Sullivan expects the slowdown to extend to the nonresidential sector, although not until the second half of the year. Year-to-date nonresidential construction in 2007 has grown 17.7 percent, but Sullivan anticipates momentum to be lost as with the reduction in growth. With the decline in cement consumption, a reduction of cement imports is also expected. ?EUR??,,????'??A large pull-back in imports is materializing,?EUR??,,????'?? Sullivan said. ?EUR??,,????'??Compared to the strong import levels in 2006, increased freight rates and pessimism regarding 2007 consumption could lead to a 5-6 million ton reduction in imports compared to 2006 levels.?EUR??,,????'??
Ongoing correction in the residential market will continue to adversely impact construction activity and cement consumption in 2007, predicts the Portland Cement Association (PCA). Despite a strong performance in the commercial and public sectors early in 2007, the decline in cement consumption this year could exceed three percent, says PCA. PCA?EUR??,,????'???s spring forecast had predicted a 1.5 percent decline in cement use.
PCA Chief Economist Ed Sullivan reports that record housing foreclosures will worsen the housing inventory situation and prolong the downturn in new construction activity in this sector.
Sullivan expects the slowdown to extend to the nonresidential sector, although not until the second half of the year. Year-to-date nonresidential construction in 2007 has grown 17.7 percent, but Sullivan anticipates momentum to be lost as with the reduction in growth.
With the decline in cement consumption, a reduction of cement imports is also expected. ?EUR??,,????'??A large pull-back in imports is materializing,?EUR??,,????'?? Sullivan said. ?EUR??,,????'??Compared to the strong import levels in 2006, increased freight rates and pessimism regarding 2007 consumption could lead to a 5-6 million ton reduction in imports compared to 2006 levels.?EUR??,,????'??
Government Island is 17-acres of woods, marshes and stone in Aquia Creek, Va., a tributary of the tidal area of the Potomac. Aquia sandstone, known as freestone in Colonial times is composed of quartz sand, pebbles and clay pellets held together by silica. It was quarried on the island by the late 1690s and was used to build Christ Church in Alexandria, George Mason?EUR??,,????'???s Gunston Hall and Mount Vernon. A century later, the federal government purchased the quarry to supply sandstone for building projects in the nation?EUR??,,????'???s capital. The White House and the original section of the U.S. Capitol used the stone. To cut and shape the stone, workers employed pick-axes, mauls and wedges. Primitive cranes and pulleys lifted the stone, which went by wagon to a wharf and then via flat-bottom boats to Washington. The last Aquia quarry was active in the 1930s, which has been a problem when trying to restore some of the area structures built with the sandstone. Government Island is on the National Register of Historic Places. Now, after years of planning, Stafford County, Va. officials have submitted plans to build a 1,600-foot boardwalk out to the island and improve and extend the 1.5-mile trail around the island to a two-mile route. The plan also includes the construction of a parking lot near Coal Landing and Confederate Way, a restroom facility and park benches. Signage will be placed along the trail to explain the island?EUR??,,????'???s history and the quarry operations. Visitors will also be able to see some of the quarry walls that have remained intact over the decades.
Government Island is 17-acres of woods, marshes and stone in Aquia Creek, Va., a tributary of the tidal area of the Potomac. Aquia sandstone, known as freestone in Colonial times is composed of quartz sand, pebbles and clay pellets held together by silica. It was quarried on the island by the late 1690s and was used to build Christ Church in Alexandria, George Mason?EUR??,,????'???s Gunston Hall and Mount Vernon. A century later, the federal government purchased the quarry to supply sandstone for building projects in the nation?EUR??,,????'???s capital. The White House and the original section of the U.S. Capitol used the stone. To cut and shape the stone, workers employed pick-axes, mauls and wedges. Primitive cranes and pulleys lifted the stone, which went by wagon to a wharf and then via flat-bottom boats to Washington.
The last Aquia quarry was active in the 1930s, which has been a problem when trying to restore some of the area structures built with the sandstone.
Government Island is on the National Register of Historic Places. Now, after years of planning, Stafford County, Va. officials have submitted plans to build a 1,600-foot boardwalk out to the island and improve and extend the 1.5-mile trail around the island to a two-mile route. The plan also includes the construction of a parking lot near Coal Landing and Confederate Way, a restroom facility and park benches. Signage will be placed along the trail to explain the island?EUR??,,????'???s history and the quarry operations. Visitors will also be able to see some of the quarry walls that have remained intact over the decades.
The French Open at Roland Garros in Paris is a venerable event that ranks only behind Wimbledon as the most prestigious tournament in the tennis world. (Some would say the U.S. Open is more important, but let?EUR??,,????'???s not quibble.) The tournament is played on European ?EUR??,,????'??red?EUR??,,????'?? clay. The surface is a thin layer (2 mm) of ochre-colored brick and tile powder. The brick is from the north of France; the tiles from the south. This thin layer is for aesthetic reasons and for the players?EUR??,,????'??? comfort. It also enables the players and fans to better track the ball. The French call the surface ?EUR??,,????'??terre battue?EUR??,,????'?? (beaten earth). It is a surface that your feet slide on and that quickly stains your shoes and socks. Unlike hard surface courts, the clay court is easier on the players?EUR??,,????'??? feet and joints. Its grittiness also slows the ball down. Below the dust is an 8 cm layer of soft, white limestone, extracted for this purpose for almost 100 years from the same quarry at Saint-Maximin in the Oise department, just north of Paris. It is compressed by heavy rollers. Under that is a layer of iron ore slag (the material left behind in iron extraction). Small stones and gravel below the slag help keep the surface stable and drained; below that is whatever ground nature produced. The idea of a powdery tennis surface arose in 1880 when the Renshaw brothers, who had been building grass courts in the south of France, crushed defective terra cotta pots. The surfacing caught on and the brothers were soon using the more readily available brick powder. The mix of materials for terre battue, however, is credited to Charles Bouhana, a golf course builder who was originally hired to maintain the lawn at Roland Garros.
The French Open at Roland Garros in Paris is a venerable event that ranks only behind Wimbledon as the most prestigious tournament in the tennis world. (Some would say the U.S. Open is more important, but let?EUR??,,????'???s not quibble.)
The tournament is played on European ?EUR??,,????'??red?EUR??,,????'?? clay. The surface is a thin layer (2 mm) of ochre-colored brick and tile powder. The brick is from the north of France; the tiles from the south. This thin layer is for aesthetic reasons and for the players?EUR??,,????'??? comfort. It also enables the players and fans to better track the ball. The French call the surface ?EUR??,,????'??terre battue?EUR??,,????'?? (beaten earth). It is a surface that your feet slide on and that quickly stains your shoes and socks. Unlike hard surface courts, the clay court is easier on the players?EUR??,,????'??? feet and joints. Its grittiness also slows the ball down.
Below the dust is an 8 cm layer of soft, white limestone, extracted for this purpose for almost 100 years from the same quarry at Saint-Maximin in the Oise department, just north of Paris. It is compressed by heavy rollers. Under that is a layer of iron ore slag (the material left behind in iron extraction). Small stones and gravel below the slag help keep the surface stable and drained; below that is whatever ground nature produced.
The idea of a powdery tennis surface arose in 1880 when the Renshaw brothers, who had been building grass courts in the south of France, crushed defective terra cotta pots. The surfacing caught on and the brothers were soon using the more readily available brick powder. The mix of materials for terre battue, however, is credited to Charles Bouhana, a golf course builder who was originally hired to maintain the lawn at Roland Garros.
There aren?EUR??,,????'???t many folks alive that remember when Waukegan, Ill. went from dirt streets to brick. It was 1895, the year of the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta. Remember that event? No one is sure when the streets here were covered by, ugh, asphalt. A Waukegan Historical Society member thinks it has been at least since 1952 (about the time the U.S. detonated the first hydrogen bomb). The local librarian believes the streets changed in Nov. 1947, when buses replaced the last electric streetcars, the same moment in time that Howard Hughes got the Spruce Goose airborne. The librarian also believes the bricks probably came from a brickyard founded in 1856 by Lake County?EUR??,,????'???s Jesse Maynard. What?EUR??,,????'???s certain, there was brick in the 1930 and small portions of brick streets remained in the city about the time the first Baby Boomers arrived.
There aren?EUR??,,????'???t many folks alive that remember when Waukegan, Ill. went from dirt streets to brick. It was 1895, the year of the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta. Remember that event?
No one is sure when the streets here were covered by, ugh, asphalt. A Waukegan Historical Society member thinks it has been at least since 1952 (about the time the U.S. detonated the first hydrogen bomb).
The local librarian believes the streets changed in Nov. 1947, when buses replaced the last electric streetcars, the same moment in time that Howard Hughes got the Spruce Goose airborne. The librarian also believes the bricks probably came from a brickyard founded in 1856 by Lake County?EUR??,,????'???s Jesse Maynard.
What?EUR??,,????'???s certain, there was brick in the 1930 and small portions of brick streets remained in the city about the time the first Baby Boomers arrived.
Francisco Uviña, University of New Mexico
Hardscape Oasis in Litchfield Park
Ash Nochian, Ph.D. Landscape Architect
November 12th, 2025
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