Fisher Awarded $52M Contract for Laughlin to Bullhead City Bridge

Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. was recently awarded a $52.4 million contract to construct a five-span, 724-foot long bridge by Nevada’s Clark County Commission.  The new bridge will span the Colorado River and link Laughlin, Nevada, and Bullhead City, Arizona.  This project will also include a 3 ½ mile, two-lane approach roadway in Nevada from the Needles Highway to the Colorado River Bridge and a 0.2-mile approach roadway in Arizona from the western end of the Bullhead Parkway to the Colorado River Bridge.

The new bridge will benefit both sides of the river as it will relieve some of the traffic volume from the existing four-lane bridge that connects Highways 95 and 68 in Arizona with Highway 163 in Nevada. This highly anticipated project has been in discussion for over 20 years.  The need for a second bridge has become more urgent, with over 30,000 vehicles traveling on Highway 95 through Bullhead City daily.  Construction is expected to begin in late 2021 with a contract of 730 days to complete.

Prairie Business Announces 50 Best Places to Work

The September issue of Prairie Business magazine salutes the region’s 50 Best Places to Work. 2020 marks the 7th consecutive year that Fisher Industries has made this list!

Each spring, employees around the region are invited to nominate organizations by submitting anonymous employee satisfaction surveys. These surveys highlight some of the reasons they believe make their company a great place to work. Among the topics were workplace culture, employee growth opportunities, teamwork, individual responsibility, and employee morale.  Prairie Business then uses the survey results to select the 50 Best Places to Work.

“We are very happy with the number of nominations we received this year,” said Andrew Weeks, editor of Prairie Business. “Learning about the successes of these companies is even more meaningful when the employees announce them - and this year, they announced them enthusiastically.”

As we all know, 2020 has proved to be a very challenging year for businesses everywhere. Fisher Industries has done whatever we can to make sure that all of our 1,000+ employees feel essential. We are thankful that our employees feel valued in their work and reflect that feeling when completing the nomination process.

Prairie Business magazine covers business news of the Northern Great Plains region, and the publication is distributed nationally. The 50 Best Places to Work spotlight is published annually every September. We would like to thank all our employees that took the time to complete the survey and nominate us for this distinction!

Our I-11 Job Earns Project of the Year Award

Fisher Industries is proud to announce that our Interstate 11 Phase One project, also known as the Boulder City Bypass, has earned an American Public Works Association (APWA) Project of the Year Award in the Historical category.  

The completion of this project, along with the I-11 Phase Two, provides a freeway system unencumbered by traffic lights that now extends from Kingman, Arizona to Ely, Nevada. The project consisted of constructing 2.5 miles of new four-lane concrete freeway, a system-to-system interchange, and a new local interchange.

The project earned a nomination in the historical preservation category due to the reconnecting of the historic railroad corridor. The rail line was once used to provide goods and services to Boulder City and further west for the construction of the Hoover Dam. As part of the highway design, the Boulder City Rail Museum requested that the rail line be restored, running either above or below the new highway. As a result, a bridge was constructed. The line had not been active in 30 years. Now, as part of the Interstate I-11 project, the historic railway line is connected once again. 

Project landscaping was incorporated which honored the history of the construction of the Hoover Dam and the creation of Boulder City. This feature offered recognition to the history of that era and its significance to the state of Nevada and the United States of America.

Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. broke ground on this project in May 2015. The job was completed in May 2018.

General Steel Launches New Smaller Air Separator

General Steel & Supply Co. recently completed its first demonstration of the new Model 76 Air Separator. This unit is designed for applications of feed rates up to 60TPH. It incorporates all the design concepts of the 13’ air separator with the AC inverter drive for variable speed, specially designed wear liners in all critical wear areas, hydraulics for easy setup, (2) 18” x 24’ discharge conveyors, and a 18” x 34’ feed conveyor. The main difference with this unit is the use of an oil bath system for the main bearing compared to the grease system used on the 13’ model.

The new Model 76 is available as either a portable or stationary unit. The stationary unit is designed so that it can be easily disassembled and loaded into a standard shipping container. This will be beneficial to international customers in saving on freight costs.  

The Model 76 is going to be a great addition into General Steel’s air separator product line, especially for the smaller operators that deal with the same regulations and specifications as competiting large producers.

Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. Secures Large Crushing Contract

Fisher Sand & Gravel has procured a 2.5 year contract to supply the North Antelope Rochelle Mine (NARM) with nearly 5 million tons of scoria. NARM is located 65 miles south of Gillette, WY and is the world’s largest open face coal mine, producing over 100 million tons of coal a year. The mine has some 1.7 billion tons of provable and probable reserves.  They move a million tons of overburden a day: moving up to 400’ of overburden to get to a coal seam of around 80’. The mine is owned and operated by Peabody Energy. Approximately 1,500 people work on site during the day.

The scoria we will be suppling is located within the mine site at two different locations.  The scoria will mainly be used on the haul roads when they are wet. The overburden is a bentonite material, and therefore gets quite slick with moisture. It is not uncommon for the mine to haul up to 40,000 tons of scoria overnight.

Southwest Asphalt Named Producer of the Year

We are pleased to announce that Southwest Asphalt (SWA) has recently been named Arizona Rock Product Association’s (ARPA) Producer of the Year! This recognition is given to a standout producing member company that participates on all fronts and also supports the ARPA’s mission. Southwest Asphalt was selected for this honor because of the support and leadership provided by many key individuals of the SWA team.  

Southwest Asphalt has representation on many of ARPA’s committees in addition to assisting other the industry organizations, whether it be with ADOT, MAG or other municipalities. SWA has also been a supporter of ARPA events, including fundraising activities, community relations efforts, and the performing of community projects.  Southwest Asphalt is deserving of its Producer of the Year recognition!

ARPA is the oldest Mining Association in Arizona. Their membership includes producers or suppliers of aggregate, asphaltic concrete, ready-mix concrete, asphalt, and Portland cement, as well as trucking firms, paving contractors, and other aggregate end users, material testing labs and ancillary companies. Their primary goal is to track critical environmental, safety, transportation, and governmental affairs and to educate members on the potential impact of current issues.

Fisher Builds “Unbuildable” Wall

Fisher Industries recently completed one of its more notable jobs in company history.  While Memorial Day weekend typically marks the unofficial start of summer for most, Fisher crews were hard at work constructing a half-mile of fence for the nonprofit group, We Build the Wall. The location of this project was Sunland Park, New Mexico, on private property belonging to American Eagle Brick Company. This area has been previously deemed “unbuildable” by government agencies due to the harsh construction conditions.  

Upon procuring materials, Fisher owned Stinger Bridge & Iron fabricated all the bollard fence panels for the project within two days. We designed the panels with ¼” weathering steel with two #8 rebar welded in the center of each bollard providing a 75+ year lifespan.

While Stinger fabricated the bollard panels, Fisher Sand & Gravel crews set to work preparing the construction site. The mass excavation of over 200,000 yards of material was required to construct the fence in the mountainside. In less than a week, we were able to transform a once impassable mountain range into a roadway accessible for all vehicles.

For the fence installment, we utilized our patented bollard hanging system. Our unique system allows us to hang five bollard fence panels concurrently: placing 40 feet of fence at one time. Another benefit of our method is the ability to install fencing in 40+ MPH winds as well as during rain showers. Such weather conditions would have delayed work efforts if we had utilized traditional crane methods.  

Primarily built into the mountains, the project required the ability to install fencing on steep grades. Our installation system can maintain vertical and horizontal alignment up to 31% grade. We were also able to parallel the fence with a 25-foot wide concrete roadway which will allow border agents to have unobstructed access from each end of the project.

We rounded out the project with an extensive electrical/technology package, including the installation of fourteen 40 foot tall light poles every 150 feet, providing agencies adequate lighting to perform nightly patrols. We also installed three pan-tilt-zoom cameras and placed fiber optic cable capable of detecting tunneling and foot traffic alongside the border fence.

Our company’s vertical integration business model allowed us to have total control over all major aspects of this border wall construction project including design, steel procurement, fence fabrication, heavy-haul transportation, grading/excavation, fence installment, and all concrete work. After the raw steel leaves the mill, Fisher is 100% in control until the final project close-out.

This project had a final close-out date of June 5th. Upon completion, Fisher is now able to show that we are capable of constructing in any terrain along the border. We feel that our schedule and price are both unmatched, and we look forward to another opportunity to build along the southern border.