PROJECTS
Quarry Road
As a member of the Ravena-Coeymans community for more than six decades, the cement plant is always striving to improve operations to minimize impact on area residents.
That is the goal of a proposed quarry access road improvement project, which aims to redirect truck traffic off portions of Jarvis and Mountain roads and onto existing plant owned roads and county streets where residents will be least impacted.
We have a permit application with the NYSDEC to move the entrance/exit of the quarry by improving an existing, plant-owned quarry access road, to highway standards.
Reducing truck traffic on these roads will improve air quality, reduce noise, and improve overall quality of life for residents along the roadway.
We believe this improvement project is the best possible means to address residents’ concerns about truck traffic while preserving our ability to transport aggregate from the quarry to the plant, which is a critical element of cement production.
We are undertaking this project in response to feedback we have received over the years from the local community and their elected representatives.
We have presented an overview of this project to local officials and are awaiting a response to our application from the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
Reclamation & Beautification
As part of our ongoing $5.4 million modernization project, which furthers our long-term commitment to the local community, we will soon be undertaking an effort to remove and recycle outdated and unused equipment and structures from the plant site.
Reclamation will take place using modern methods to dismantle the equipment safely and efficiently. No explosives will be used in the process and methods employed are designed to minimize nuisances such as vibration, noise, and dust.
Material that is reclaimed will be sorted and transported to appropriate recycling facilities. Non-recyclable materials will be contained and transported by licensed professionals to licensed facilities for disposal in strict adherence to state and federal guidelines.
Air monitoring will take place in accordance with DEC regulations to ensure the safety of our workforce, our contractors, and the greater community.
Much of the work that we will be doing will not be visible, though the plant’s skyline will change.
We are committed to transparency and community engagement throughout this process, and will be regularly updating this site with timelines and information.
UPDATE 2/13/23:
Removal of outdated and unused equipment, which will make our plant more efficient and simplify our skyline is underway. The contractor for the demolition portion of this project – Chicago-based FE Demolition and Remediation LLC — is on site and prep work has begun!
Most of what happens at this stage won’t be noticeable by members of the local community, though in the coming weeks the skyline of plant will start to change and will be noticeable from both the Thruway and Route 9W.
The contractor will start by dismantling the pug mill, which used to take dust and mix it with water during the cement-making process, and an associated silo.
Neither of these structures have been in use since the three-year multimillion dollar modernization project that dramatically upgraded our process was completed in 2017.
UPDATE 4/4/23:
There’s considerable progress to report on the ground at the plant.
A few weeks back, the old silo came down, significantly altering our facility’s skyline.
Over the next several months, the contractors will move on to electrical de-termination and taking down the kiln that’s no longer in use.
These changes won’t be visible to the public, but what some keen observers might have noticed is the start of removal of siding from the top of the feed end building. This photo shows how a manlift is being used to facilitate safe and effective siding removal.
UPDATE 4/11/23:
Although no progress on the demolition progress is visible from US Route 9W yet, there is quite a bit of progress on the northern and eastern sides of the old feed-end building. Nearly all siding has been removed from the north end of the building.
UPDATE 4/12/23:
Quite a bit of progress on siding removal in just one day! A little over half of the siding has been removed.
UPDATE 7/30/23:
Over eight days, the precipitator building was completely taken down. The building is old technology that used an electrostatic precipitator to collect dust from the cement production process. The updated technology the plant now employs uses filter bags made by W.L. Gore & Associates, which is the same company that makes GORE-TEX, the high-performance water and wind-proof fabric familiar to outdoor enthusiasts.
The area where the old building once stood will now be cleaned up within a week and the contractors will move on to the next phase of the project: Removal of the old kiln.
