SEGMENT REPORTING (Segment Financial Disclosure) (Details) $ in Thousands		1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
		Jan. 31, 2015 property	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 USD ($)
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total revenues			$ 857,285	$ 1,038,460	$ 895,143	$ 631,293	$ 755,027	$ 873,579	$ 791,143	$ 574,420	$ 3,422,181	$ 2,994,169	$ 2,770,709
Gross profit			253,929	$ 291,290	$ 234,449	$ 77,865	169,660	$ 209,042	$ 174,788	$ 34,092	857,533	587,582	426,880
Depreciation, depletion, accretion and amortization											274,823	279,497	307,108
Cash items			284,060				141,273				284,060	141,273	193,738	$ 275,478
Total assets			8,301,632				8,041,097				8,301,632	8,041,097	8,233,114
Capital expenditures [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	[1]		304,024				223,097				304,024	223,097	284,618
Identifiable assets [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	[2]		7,995,691				7,808,326				7,995,691	7,808,326	7,985,169
Segment sales [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total revenues											3,616,298	3,192,787	3,003,435
Aggregates [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Gross profit											755,666	544,070	413,301
Depreciation, depletion, accretion and amortization											228,466	227,042	224,808
Aggregates [Member] | Capital expenditures [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	[1]		269,014				180,026				269,014	180,026	253,000
Aggregates [Member] | Identifiable assets [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	[2]		7,540,273				7,311,336				7,540,273	7,311,336	7,006,724
Aggregates [Member] | Segment sales [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total revenues	[3]										2,777,758	2,346,411	2,025,026
Aggregates [Member] | Intersegment sales [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total revenues											(194,117)	(189,393)	(185,385)
Asphalt Mix [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Gross profit	[4]										78,225	38,080	32,704
Depreciation, depletion, accretion and amortization	[4]										16,378	10,719	8,697
Number of asphalt mix plants | property		13
Asphalt Mix [Member] | Capital expenditures [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	[1],[4]		8,111				20,796				8,111	20,796	17,089
Asphalt Mix [Member] | Identifiable assets [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	[2],[4]		251,716				264,172				251,716	264,172	195,046
Asphalt Mix [Member] | Segment sales [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total revenues	[4]										530,692	445,538	407,657
Concrete [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Gross profit	[4],[5]										20,152	2,233	(24,774)
Depreciation, depletion, accretion and amortization	[4],[5]										11,374	19,892	32,996
Concrete [Member] | Capital expenditures [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	[1],[4],[5]		19,053				19,542				19,053	19,542	13,054
Concrete [Member] | Identifiable assets [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	[2],[4],[5]		198,193				227,000				198,193	227,000	370,103
Concrete [Member] | Segment sales [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total revenues	[4],[5]										299,252	375,806	471,748
Calcium [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Gross profit	[6]										3,490	3,199	5,649
Depreciation, depletion, accretion and amortization	[6]										679	1,554	18,093
Calcium [Member] | Capital expenditures [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	[1],[6]		0				201				0	201	198
Calcium [Member] | Identifiable assets [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	[2],[6]		5,509				5,818				5,509	5,818	413,296
Calcium [Member] | Segment sales [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total revenues	[6]										8,596	25,032	99,004
Calcium [Member] | Intersegment sales [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total revenues											0	(9,225)	(47,341)
Other [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Depreciation, depletion, accretion and amortization											17,926	20,290	22,514
Corporate [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets			21,881				91,498				21,881	91,498	54,207
Corporate [Member] | Capital expenditures [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	[1]		$ 7,846				$ 2,532				$ 7,846	$ 2,532	$ 1,277

[1] Capital expenditures include capitalized replacements of and additions to property, plant & equipment, including capitalized leases, renewals and betterments. Capital expenditures exclude property, plant & equipment obtained by business acquisitions.

[2] Certain temporarily idled assets are included within a segment's Identifiable Assets but the associated DDA&A is shown within Other in the DDA&A section above as the related DDA&A is excluded from segment gross profit.

[3] Includes product sales, as well as freight, delivery and transportation revenues, and other revenues related to services.

[4] In January 2015, we exchanged our California ready-mixed concrete operations for 13 asphalt mix plants, primarily in Arizona (see Note 19).

[5] In March 2014, we sold our concrete business in the Florida area (see Note 19).

[6] Includes cement and calcium products. In March 2014, we sold our cement business (see Note 19).