Prairie Material Yard #8 in Des Plaines, IL

(Satellite)

While researching the St. Marys cement distribution facility in Buffalo, NY, I came across a news item about this yard being rebuilt. Since news items disappear from web sites, these notes will capture that information. I'm familiar with Prairie Material because their Yard #32 in Chicago was used to pour the foundation for the Trump Tower. I'm familiar with St. Marys Cement because their St. Marys Challenger barge was built from the hull of the Madusa Challenger, the 562' ship that used to tie up traffic in the loop when it delivered cement to Goose Island. (In particular, I wonder if it was delivering to Yard #32. That boat would be carrying a lot of cement.)

St. Marys is owned by Votorantim Cimentos. [StMarys-history] I see by the sign on a bulk bin in this street view, that Prairie Material must also be owned by them. The ERIE sign indicates the manufacturer of the mixer. This yard has two mixers.

Street View

Yard 8
"The new plant, designed and fabricated by Erie Strayer, features two identical central mixers and a dry lane with 16 overhead aggregate storage compartments and 10 cement compartments. 'This is one of the biggest plants we've ever built,' says Kyle Strayer, Sales Manager at Erie Strayer. 'It's also one of the fastest – the top capacity with both central mixers running a sixty-second mix time would be about 700 yards per hour.' Yard 8 is Prairie's top suburban plant, strategically located adjacent to O'Hare airport and less than a mile from two interstate highways that allow a greater reach for its service area. It has been an integral part of the multi-year, multi-billion-dollar O'Hare Modernization Program and many of the Illinois Tollway Authority's highway expansion projects in the area....The new plant holds up to 10 different cement types and 16 different aggregates, which offers a lot of flexibility to service the various types of projects in the area. The airport work routinely calls for binary slag/cement mixes that incorporate a specially graded airport stone. Warehouse floors often require a blend of cement mixes with 2 – 3 graded coarse aggregates to prevent curling. The Illinois Tollway Authority has increasingly complex requirements for high performance pavement mixes, bridge decks and rapid repairs. 'Some Tollway mixes require 3 – 4 different cementitious materials including fly ash, slag and at times silica fume,' says Gary Hall, Technical Services Representative at Prairie. 'Combinations of coarse aggregate blends and the addition of lightweight fines for internal curing are also common.'"