Archives: Hedrick News

Henderson County – Hwy 74 Landslide Repair

Western North Carolina set an all-time record for precipitation in 2018 and that took its toll on the area’s roads and infrastructure.  Last summer a mountainside slope began to fail on Highway 74 between Fairview and Chimney Rock.  Dirt and debris constantly fell on the road during rainstorms which caused a major hazard for cars and trucks traveling on the steep and curvy road.  The NCDOT let a contract in January to provide a permanent solution to the failure.  The solution was to build a 15-foot-high rock buttress to prevent any debris from spilling on the roadway.  After a grading contractor removed thousands of yards of dirt, the buttress was constructed and they’re currently putting the finishing touches on the project.  The Grove Stone crew loaded over 8,000 tons of Rip Rap (Class I) over 3 weeks to meet the contractor’s aggressive schedule.  Grove Stone and Material Sales Company is proud to partner with contractors by providing excellent products and service to ensure a successful project.

Customer Appreciation and Retirement Luncheon at Aquadale Quarry

Around 80 customers attended last week’s Customer Appreciation Luncheon at Aquadale Quarry. The event also honored one of our retiring salemen, Tony Harris, who has been an asset to the sales team at Aquadale for over 5 years. To show our appreciation for our customers’ and employees’ continued support and hard work, free BBQ, fixings, and a good time by all were shared.

Grove Stone Quarry Tour Tomorrow!

In collaboration with the Colburn Earth Science Museum and their NC Science Festival, Grove Stone is hosting a tour of the quarry tomorrow, April 15th, from 2-4:30pm. Come learn about the origins of granite, sand, and gravel for building and transportation infrastructure. Our Hedrick Industries’ staff will guide the tour around the pits, rock piles and equipment. The tour will also include a visit to the on-site stream, a high quality tributary to the Swannanoa River, where you can find and learn to identify aquatic macro-invertebrates. Please remember to bring comfortable walking shoes.

This event is perfect for all ages. Just call the Colburn at (828)254-7162 ahead of time to reserve your spot. Meet at Grove Stone, at 828 Old US Hwy 70W in Swannanoa for an afternoon of exploring! The cost is $10.

Check out the COLBURN EARTH SCIENCE MUSEUM WEBSITE for more information on this event and more announcements!

Depleted Mines Have Positive Impact On Their Immediate Communities

To give you an idea of how expansive a depleted mine is, it will take the crew at the Bellwood Quarry 7 weeks to scale their way all the way around it, making sure that loose rock falls before the real construction begins. This is just the first step in turning the old mine into Atlanta’s largest park and reservoir that will hold more than a billion gallons of the city’s emergency back-up water supply. Later this summer, 70 trucks will transport a custom-built tunnel boring machine to Atlanta, which will dig a tunnel 5 miles long and 12.5′ in diameter under Marietta Street and under Howell Mill Road for water to travel through from the water treatment plant.

Listen to the full story HERE

Students@Work Week 2016 Comes to Grove Stone

Grove Stone was a participating business in this year’s Students@Work Week. More than 950 Asheville City and Buncombe County middle schools, and Nesbitt Discovery Academy students visited local businesses and community leaders during the week of March 14^th to learn more about career paths in North Carolina. Grove Stone hosted 25 middle schoolers with hands-on centers that exposed the students to quality control, equipment maintenance, plant maintenance, and the geology of our aggregate material.  Thanks to the initiative of Buncombe County Schools and United Way, students connected classroom concepts to real world applications, sparking imagination along the way!

Buncombe County Schools are also planning their third-annual Celebrate STEM, NC Science Festival event on Saturday, April 23 from 9a-3p at the Nesbitt Discovery Academy. This event invites families from grades k-8 to come view the GeoDome, in addition to 30 other activities throughout the day. Last year, 600 people visited this event and experienced activities such as engineering design challenges, science explorations, math activities and more.