Early spring flooding this year touched off a chain of events that’s now limiting the availability of concrete for Minnesota builders.
The CBS affiliate in Minneapolis reported that barge deliveries of cement to Minnesota were delayed by flooding earlier in the year on the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. The shortage was worsened by problems at cement-making plants in Missouri and Iowa. Construction of a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings football team and of the St. Croix River bridge took a big portion of the available concrete made from the diminished supplies of cement.
“We have a problem right now,” said Jerry Lang, president of the Aggregate and Ready Mix Association of Minnesota. “We do have a cement shortage.”
Lang said that ready-mix plants were being forced to juggle orders from commercial, residential, and state projects, and that while the stadium and bridge projects are considered high priority, even they are facing some scheduling problems for concrete deliveries.
Smaller contractors placing spot orders are getting the worst of it, the TV report said.
Lang’s company in Knife River is trucking in cement from Iowa, reducing the number of loads truckers can deliver in a day from the normal 21 to just seven, Lang told the TV station.
The governor was asked to authorize an increase in the number of hours that truck drivers can be on the road, and to permit loads of up to 100,000 lb.
Minnesota Public Radio reported that in late October, one small contractor with a driveway and patio business said that he was unable to get any concrete one week and only a single load the following week.
“We can’t seem to be able to get concrete from all these ready-mix companies, so it’s pretty much put a halt on all the projects,” Nate Schumm said. “Obviously, when work shuts off, we don’t make anything. It made it a little tougher than I’d like to see it.”
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Slow cement deliveries in the spring, high demand, and production problems at cement plants in the region all have made concrete tough to get in Minnesota. Small contractors have been among those hardest hit by the shortage.
