Tilcon New York Inc has teamed up again with local environmental non-profit group Keep Rockland Beautiful to organize a 3rd Annual Spring Cleanup. The Cleanup will take place on Saturday April 5th, 2014 from 9.00am to 12.30pm on Casper Hill Road in Valley Cottage. 

Volunteers from both organizations will work together to clear Casper Hill Road of litter and trash. The entire length of Casper Hill Road from the intersection of Crusher Road to the intersection of Route 303 will be closed to all traffic during the Cleanup.

This event will be part of The Great American Cleanup, a series of volunteer-led initiatives across the country running throughout April and May. Tilcon is a sponsor of this event, working with Keep Rockland Beautiful, who are coordinating other cleanups in the area under The Great American Cleanup banner during April and May.

Work gloves, trash bags and litter grabbers will be handed out to all volunteers. Water, sports drinks, bagels and doughnuts will also be provided.

If you are interested in volunteering to help us out on the day, please get in touch with John Van Zetta, Tilcon New York's Environmental Manager at 917 299 9493 or email him at jvanzetta@tilconny.com.

For more information about Keep Rockland Beautiful and the Great American Cleanup, please visit www.keeprocklandbeautiful.org.

Please note that our Pompton Lakes, NJ Quarry will be open on Saturday March 15, 2014 from 6am to 1pm for stone sales. In New York, our West Nyack and Haverstraw Quarries will be open on Saturday from 6am to 2pm for stone sales.

Tomorrow March 22, 2014 the following quarry scalehouses will be open:

New York

Haverstraw Quarry scalehouse 5am to 2pm

West Nyack Quarry scalehouse 6am to 2pm

New Jersey

Mount Hope Quarry scalehouse is now running 24 hours from Monday at 5am to Saturday 12 noon.

Spring is here and we are getting ready to open our asphalt plants to customers for the 2014 Construction season. Provisional scalehouse opening dates are shown below. Please note that these dates are subject to change. Any changes will be posted on this page and on our facebook and twitter pages.

New Jersey - scalehouse opening dates - scalehouse hours for all plants will be Monday to Friday 7am to 3.30pm, Saturday on demand.

Mount Hope Asphalt - Monday March 31

Pompton Lakes Asphalt - Monday March 31

North Bergen Asphalt - Monday March 31

Oxford Asphalt - Monday April 14

Totowa Asphalt - Monday April 28.

New York - scalehouse opening dates - scalehouse hours for all NY plants will be Monday to Friday 7am to 3.30pm, Saturday on demand.

Clinton Point - Monday April 7

Haverstraw - Monday March 31

Goshen - Monday April 7

Maybrook - opened Wednesday March 19

Newburgh - tbd.

Tilcon New Jersey Asphalt wins the 2013 Oldcastle Asphalt National Performance Committee (ANPC) company award for outstanding performance and leadership! Oldcastle Materials Group, headquartered in Atlanta, is our parent company.

The Oldcastle Asphalt National Performance Committee (ANPC) awards program is an internal company award program that recognizes individual plants, companies or regions for outstanding performance and leadership.  The award program committee considered the following areas when making their decision - Safety, 5S, Environmental, RAP / Binder Replacement, Energy Use, Production, Costs and Margin and reviewed all Oldcastle Materials Group asphalt operations around the country.

The 2013 winner for the "Company High Volume" category for outstanding performance and leadership is Tilcon New Jersey!  Congratulations to the asphalt team and to everyone who supported and collaborated with the asphalt division.

As spring begins, our quarry scalehouses will begin to switch to season hours and our asphalt plant scalehouses will open. As season hours are confirmed, they will be posted here. Asphalt plant opening dates are posted in another News item in this News section. UPDATED APRIL 14.

All scalehouses may open on Saturdays, subject to demand. Please speak to your Sales Representative or our Dispatch team for Saturday openings.

New York

Flushing Terminal - Monday to Friday 6am to 2.30pm - operating season hours

Haverstraw Quarry - Monday to Friday 5am to 3.30pm - starts Monday March 31

Port Washington Terminal - Monday to Friday 7am to 3.30pm - operating season hours  

West Nyack Quarry - Monday to Friday 5am to 3.30pm - starts Monday March 31, and from april 12 Saturday 6am to 2pm.

Port Jefferson Terminal - Monday to Friday 7am to 3.30pm - starts Wednesday April 9.

New Jersey

Kearny Recycle - Monday to Friday 7am to 3pm, Saturday 7am to 12 noon

Mount Hope - 24 hour operation Monday 5am to Saturday 12 noon - started Monday March 17

North Bergen Recycle - Monday to Friday 7am to 3pm - Saturday closed - starts Monday March 31

Oxford Quarry - Monday to Friday 7am to 3pm - Saturday closed - starts Monday March 31

Pompton Lakes - Monday to Friday 6am to 4pm - Saturday closed - starts Monday March 31

Riverdale Quarry - Monday to Friday 6am to 4pm - Saturday closed - starts Monday March 31.

Tilcon's Third Annual Spring Clean Up took place on Saturday April 5, 2014.  A group of Tilcon volunteers, comprising employees and their families, spent several hours clearing Casper Hill Road and the adjacent verges of litter and debris.  This event was organized in conjunction with local non-profit environmental group Keep Rockland Beautiful and was part of the Great American Clean Up, in which volunteers across the country work to clean up part of their neighborhood.

The Tilcon employees who took part include John Van Zetta, Tilcon Environmental Manager and his wife Talena, Sue Kopek and her family, Jason Hope and his family, Eric Kechejian and his daughter ,West Nyack Quarry manager John Rufer and West Nyack Quarry Quality Control Manager Mike Kalinowski, along with two West Nyack Quarry employees Keron Allen and Steven Trejos. John Cooney, Tilcon NY Divisional President and his wife Susan also took part, along with Bill Poole, Tilcon New York Chief Operations Officer and his wife Christine and their daughter.  The West Nyack Corporate office was also represented by Adriane Casterella and Doug Remine. Niall O'Gara, Tilcon New York Vice President - Transportation and his wife Gerry Collins also took part, along with their sons Eoin and Brendan.

In addition to the Tilcon employees, John LaPlaca also attended the Clean up. John is a Keep Rockland Beautiful 'super-volunteer' who has at times gathered over 1,000 bags of garbage in a year, by himself!  Finally, Impact Property Services/Spotless sent two employees Carlos Martinez and Wilson Ochoa to assist with the Clean Up. Casper Hill Road is the company's 'Adopt-a-Road'.

Volunteers were provided with protective gloves, garbage bags and trash grabbers and refreshments were served. Keron Allen and Steven Trejos operated loaders which shuttled trash to the dumpster, to make the collection process quicker and easier. Overall, a large dumpster was half-filled with garbage bags of trash collected from the site.

Thanks to everyone who took part in this very worthwhile event and a special thanks to Clarkstown Police who organized the closure of Casper Hill Road during the Clean Up.

For this holiday weekend, the following changes apply to our regular operating hours. Out two Corporates offices in Wharton, NJ and West Nyack, NY are closed. The following plant/quarry changes apply:

New York

All plants, quarries and terminals are operating normal business hours, including any regular Saturday hours.

New Jersey

North Bergen Recycle- Will be closed on Friday and Saturday

Riverdale- Will be closed on  Friday and Saturday

All other NJ facilities will be operating regular business hours, including any scheduled Saturday hours.

 NAPA - the National Asphalt Paving Association offers the Diamond Award Program each year. This program recognizes the best performing asphalt plants and asphalt paving crews around the country in terms of the quality of the material they produce, how well-managed, safe and environmentally-friendly the plants are and how safe, well-trained and well-operated the construction crews are.

For 2013, the following Tilcon asphalt plants and paving crews were awarded honors under the NAPA Diamond Award Program.

2013 Diamond Achievement Award

This Award covers operations in the manufacturing plant and around the plant site. Aspects addressed include appearance, operations, environmental practices, safety, permitting and regulatory compliance, and community relations.

• Mt. Hope Asphalt
• Oxford Asphalt
• Pompton Lakes Asphalt
• Riverdale Asphalt
• Totowa Asphalt
• Haverstraw Asphalt
• Maybrook Asphalt
• Newburgh Asphalt
• Poughkeepsie Asphalt

2013 Diamond Quality Commendation Award

The Diamond Quality Commendation deals with the quality of the material produced. Areas evaluated include quality management, RAP and aggregate handling, asphalt storage, drying and mixing, air quality, truck scales, silos, and control rooms.

• Mt. Hope Asphalt
• Oxford Asphalt
• Pompton Lakes Asphalt
• Riverdale Asphalt
• Totowa Asphalt

 2013 Diamond Paving Commendation Award

This Award is designed for paving crews. Areas evaluated include training of supervisors and crew members, use of best practices in paving, and compliance.

• NJ Construction Team - all paving crews.

Congratulations to all plant and construction personnel who worked so hard, throughout the year to achieve such high standards.

Employees from Tilcon visited the Catherine A. Dwyer School in Rockaway Township, on April, 22, for their 5th Annual Earth Day Presentation. This year the 2nd grade students began the event by coloring their own animal masks and making them very colorful and realistic.  Several students even colored two masks for friends that were not able to attend and also to bring home to their families.

After the arts and crafts portion, special guest Nick from Rizzo's Reptiles brought in many of his reptile friends with him to visit the students so they could see and feel them.  Some of the reptiles were snakes, beetles, toads, a chinchilla, crocodile and even a python snake. Two of our brave Tilcon representatives, Brad Carroll, General Manager of Aggregates and Jessica Zinna, Project Coordinator volunteered to hold the snake along with a school aid while Nick presented it to the students.

Brad Carroll finished the show with a PowerPoint presentation about the Mt. Hope Quarry. Many of the students were never at a quarry before and didn't know what we did on a day to day basis.  The presentation allowed them to learn about the history of the quarry and the geology of the land as well as learning about blasting and about the equipment on the site.  Throughout the presentation, the students asked great questions and were very interested in the process even at such a young age.  

Thank you to all the other Tilcon employees who volunteered time out of their busy schedules to volunteer to help out with the event: Claudia Abrams, Maritsa Barosi, Sue Phillips and Pat Dickerson.  

Great Job done by all!

Riverdale Batch plant is open for the season, Monday through Friday 7.00am to 3.30pm and Saturdays 7.00am to 12.00 noon. Riverdale Batch is Tilcon New Jersey's only batch asphalt plant and is particularly convenient for small and medium-sized customers working on smaller projects. The minimum order size is one ton. This gives flexibility for customers working with a preferred mix on a project.

The plant is a 1968 Barber Green five ton batch plant with five hot bins which will store 70 tons of dry aggregate for mixing. It can make numerous mixes however the main products sold are usually commercial driveway top, I-5, I-2, I-4, ¼ mix, sand mix. 

The plant is very conveniently located just off Highway 287 (Exit 53, Bloomingdale/Pompton Lakes) giving very easy access to many interstates and highways in Central and Northern New Jersey.

Or order or for any questions, please call our Order Entry team on 1-800-789-7625 press 2 for asphalt orders. Order Entry Season hours are Monday to Friday 6.00am to 5.00pm. While we prefer customers to call ahead to Order Entry, drive-up orders are also welcome.

Questions? Please speak to your Sales Rep or call Order Entry.

In observance of Memorial Day, all Tilcon quarries, terminals and asphalt plants will be closed on Memorial Day, Monday May 26, 2014.

In New York - all facilities will also be closed on Saturday May 24, 2014.

In New Jersey - Mount Hope Quarry and Kearny Recycle will operate regular hours on Saturday May 24, 2014. Mount Hope Quarry will close at 12 noon and Kearny will operate 7am to 12 noon.

We wish all of our employees, customers and business partners a happy and safe Memorial Day Weekend  as we remember those men and women who paid the ultimate price to keep our country safe.

On Friday May 9, 2014 Tilcon donated approximately 450 tons of Item 4 stone to install a Little League parking lot in Poughkeepsie, home of our Clinton Point Quarry. The field will be used by the Poughkeepsie Mid Hudson Babe Ruth organization.

Stone for the parking lot was transported by Tilcon hired haulers Corrao Trucking and K & A Trucking who donated their time to the project. Tilcon New York Construction provided a dozer and operator to grade the new parking lot. 

'Tilcon Field' opened on Saturday May 10.

Poughkeepsie Mid Hudson Babe Ruth Baseball (PBR) operates a baseball league for approximately 400 local young players aged 4-18, who live mostly in the town of Poughkeepsie. They play in New York State South District.

The league's season starts with Opening Day on April 3 and continues until the end of June. Towards the end of the season, All Star tournament teams are formed to play against other teams in the District.

Tilcon Field is the first new field to be built in the town since 1999 and will be enjoyed by many young players over the years to come.

ARTBA, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association honored two private sector organizations for Excellence in Community Relations and Public Relations for 2014 at their PRIDE Awards lunch in on June 10. Tilcon New York was one of the honorees.

According to ARTBA's Press Release 'Transportation design and construction firms and public agencies from Oregon to New York were recognized for "excellence in community relations and public education" during the American Road & Transportation Builders Association Transportation Development Foundation (ARTBA-TDF) 2014 PRIDE Awards lunch, held June 10 in the Nation's Capital during the association's Federal Issues Program.Established in 1999, the PRIDE Awards honor outstanding programs that enhance the image of the transportation design and construction industry.  An independent panel of public relations professionals and industry journalists reviewed nominations and selected the winners in these categories:

Community Relations: Honors programs which demonstrate positive involvement with the community in which a public agency, firm or association is located.

Public-Media Relations/Education: Recognizes activities that educate the public and opinion leaders about the significant contributions the industry makes to the economy and/or quality of life.

Community Relations: Private Sector

Second Place: Tilcon New York Inc.: "Tilcon's Community Relations Program"

Commitment to the community is part of a year-round corporate culture at Tilcon New York, Inc., a division of Oldcastle Materials, Inc.  The firm donates to a New Jersey pantry, Marine Toys for Tots, The American Heart Association and numerous local museums and schools.  It donated heavy construction equipment for a local elementary school's Christmas Parade, provided arts and crafts to another school in celebration of Earth Day, and participated in trash clean-up days along the Hudson River.  Tilcon also holds open houses and plant tours for more than 3,000 visitors at a time, educating the public, students and the media about the important role aggregates miming plays in today's society.

All Tilcon offices, quarries, asphalt plants, recycle facilities and terminals will be closed on Friday, July 4th and Saturday, July 5th, 2014 in observance of the Independence Day holiday.

All facilities will re-open as normal on Monday, July 7th.

We wish all our customers, suppliers, business associates and members of our local communities a very Happy and Safe 4th July Weekend.

Tilcon New York and New Jersey both hosted Scout tours during the month of June.

Both Scout packs were preparing to earn their geology badges and it was important for them to see a working quarry and the different formations and the geology of the land. 

 New Jersey Hosts Scouts from Long Valley, New Jersey at the Mt. Hope Quarry

On Friday June 20, Brad Carroll, General Manager of Aggregates, treated the Scout group from Long Valley, New Jersey to a bus tour of the quarry which included visiting Mt. Hope's new asphalt plant, quality control lab, scalehouse, recycling and mining areas. They learned about the history and geology of the land and about the crushing and blasting process and how stone is made in various different sizes to be transported to our customers.  The Scouts asked great questions and were very inquisitive about the whole production process.

The final stop was the heavy equipment garage that was home of Tilcon's newly purchased 777 haul truck that was spiffed and shined up by Billy Paul, Superintendant of Equipment and Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Jim Martin and Scott Helbing.  The Scouts and their families loved it and took group photos on the haul truck to take home with them.

Liz Saranglao, Engineering Intern, helped out to make sure that the Scouts safely climbed up on the equipment and on the bus and that everybody got goody bags with informational material at the end of the tour.

 New York Host Scouts from Fairfield, Connecticut at the West Nyack Quarry

The Scouts from Fairfield, Connecticut were planning a road trip to the Sterling Mine Museum in New Jersey on June 27 and were interested in doing a tour of the West Nyack Quarry beforehand as part of the geology background portion of their Scout badge requirements.  Quarry employees were more than happy to assist with the Scouts' request.

John Rufer, Plant Manager prepared the facility and made sure that everything was ready for the Scouts' arrival. Jeremy Vandermark, Quarry Foreman and Kelly Tribble, Operations Manager lead the tour and explained to the group what happens at the quarry on a day to day basis and how we produce aggregates/crushed stone.  They also learned about the history and geology of the quarry and its many different land formations. The Scouts were able to view the crushing and mining pit areas and were able to observe the heavy equipment that we use on site. 

Kris Latham, Performance Manager, was on-hand for a Q&A session after the tour and explained to the Scouts and their family members the production and blasting process.  Plant Assistant Sue Kopek made arrangements for the bus rental for the tour and helped to make sure that the Scouts were safe boarding and exiting the bus and made everyone feel at home. 

Thanks to all Tilcon employees volunteers for their assistance in making the tours at both locations a huge success!

The National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) announced this week that Tilcon New York Inc had won four major awards. The awards were presented this week at NAPA's Midyear Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.

' Through the creation of five Operational Excellence Award Categories; Asphalt Operations Safety Innovation, Community Involvement, Ecological, Outstanding Brochure and Outstanding Website; the Awards Committee established a blueprint for excellence – detailing the aspects that make for a successful business'  stated Jim Mitchell, Chairman of NAPA's awards committee.

For 2013, Tilcon won awards in the Community Involvement, Ecological and Asphalt Operations Safety Innovation categories.

Tilcon's Community Involvement Awardwas based on the company's community relations program as a whole. The company has a community relations goal for each employee – 24 to 48 hours volunteer time per year, with a focus on being a good neighbor. Tilcon has hosted open houses for local residents at locations in New Jersey and New York in recent years. In New Jersey, a team of employees work with a local elementary school to celebrate Earth Day with a live animal show and crafts each year. This year the event focused on Native American culture and native New Jersey animals.

In New York, a crew of Tilcon volunteers has worked for several years with local non-profit Keep Rockland Beautiful to organize an Annual Clean-Up, part of the Great American Clean-Up. In 2013, the team cleared the Tomkins Cove Dock which borders the Hudson River in Tomkins Cove, NY.

Each year cadets from the West Point Military Academy tour Haverstraw and Tomkins Cove quarries. Other facilities host tours from colleges, schools and boy scout troops across the region.

Tilcon's Ecological Award honors Mount Hope Asphalt plant. The plant is a new high-efficiency asphalt plant that replaes three inefficient plants. As the largest plant in the state, it is capable of 600 tons per hour and storing 2,700 tons in nine storage silos. The plant uses technology that makes it the most fuel-efficient and environmentally clean design in the hot mix industry.

The two remaining awards, for Safety Innovation, will be the subject of a separate article.

The National Asphalt Pavement Association announced last month that Tilcon had won four major awards in its Operational Excellence Award categories, for Community Involvement, Ecological Excellence and two for Asphalt Operations Safety Innovation. The 2013 awards were presented at NAPA's Mid-Year Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, mid-July.

NAPA states 'The Asphalt Operations Safety Innovation Award recognizes the development and implementation of innovative ideas that lead to improved worker safety in a roadway zone, plant site or quarry environment and companies whose safety practices go above and beyond normal safety practices.'

Tilcon's Asphalt Operations Safety Innovation Awards

Binder Sampling - Binder sampling is essential to ensuring the production of high quality asphalt pavements and a requirements for Quality Control/Quality Assurance. While a necessary task to perform, the testing of hot bituminous materials also poses safety concerns. Tilcon created an innovative way to enhance the safe working environment of employees.

Prior procedures dictated Tilcon obtained samples of asphalt cement through a valve in the tank, the preferred industry method for sampling. To ensure worker health and safety, employees are required to wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). In order to avoid the potential for dropped samples and accidental splatter, Tilcon devised a Hot Liquid Asphalt Sampling Center. The Center includes a recessed shelf which holds the sampling container, a clear Lexan window and a cover for placement under the hot asphalt. Now employees, after dressing in their PPE's, set a sampling container under the valve; with both hands , they open the valve and monitor the pour through the Lexan window. After the sample has been gathered, a cover is placed over the sample to prevent accidental spills as the liquid cools. The new system adds additional protection for samplers by providing an innovative solution to a potential risk.

Jackhammer Lift– Tilcon employees developed an innovative way to protect workers by mounting hydraulic lifts designed to hold 90lb jackhammers to the frame of a truck. Jack Lukas, Prep Crew Foreman at Tilcon explains 'The crew realized that lifting jackhammers out of the toolbox was just as difficult as using the jackhammer, and finding a better way to store the hammers would be safer for the men.' The crew developed a great idea – instead of storing heavy jackhammers in metal cases under the truck body which would require unsafe lifting and potential back injuries, they would mount the jackhammers to a hydraulically-controlled lift/carrier system.'

The carrier is designed so that two jackhammers sit side-by-side in the holder which allows for the equipment to be raised and turned into a horizontal position for easy, safe, ergonomical removal. Mr Lukas says 'It allows us to save time and eliminates unnecessary set-up and breakdown time. It also puts the jackhammers in an ergonomical position and saves our backs and fingers from injury.'

This ingenious device was executed on-site at Tilcon New York, making it a cost-effective safety innovation which protects employee health.

On Saturday, August 2nd just over 200 Tilcon New Jersey employees and family members brought along their swimsuits and sunscreen for a fun-filled Family Picnic at the Picatinny Arsenal facility, adjacent to Mount Hope.

Children of all ages had a blast at the Frog Falls water park, which features a lazy river, two water slides, a toddler play area and a large swimming pool.

A barbeque lunch of burgers and hot dogs, corn, coleslaw, beans and refreshments was served under a tented area. Children also enjoyed snow cones and ice-cream beside the pool area.

Music was provided all afternoon by a DJ.

There were blue skies and the sun shone all day, a relief after a week of clouds and rain.

The picnic was a great success and enjoyed by all those who attended. Thanks to Arnold Connelly and his team for organizing this wonderful family day out, and to all at Picatinny Arsenal for allowing us the use of their facility for the day, in particular to Maureen Tsadilas, Aquatics Director, without whom the event would not have run smoothly.

Here are openings for Labor Day weekend.

Saturday August 30, 2014

New Jersey

Mt Hope Quarry – Open till 12 noon as usual,

Riverdale Asphalt Batch Plant – Open 7-12 noon as usual,

All other New Jersey facilities closed.

New York

West Nyack Quarry - open 6am to 2pm/.

All other facilities will be closed.

Monday September 1, 2014

All facilities - offices, quarries, plants and terminals will be closed on Monday, September 1, 2014 and will reopen at the normal time on Tuesday September 2, 2014.

Wishing you all a very safe and happy Labor Day weekend.