THE Customer Corner
The vision for the SH 99 Grand Parkway
may have developed in the 1960s, but as
its completion nears, the focus of many in
Houston has shifted from the events of the past
to the opportunities of the future.
“The area northeast of Houston has been rural
for as long as anyone can remember, but the city is
expanding and the Grand Parkway will offer an
easier way to get in and out of downtown,” said Gulf
Coast District Vice President-General Manager
Jason Lynch, whose Humble, Texas, office is just
north of the city. “The area will be perfect for those
people who want to escape the hustle and bustle,
but who still need to get to work each day.”
Set to open in 2022, the final segments of the
Grand Parkway – segments H, I-1 and I-2 – are
being built with an enormous amount of Martin
Marietta product.
Area Sales Manager Jake Koehler said the new
44-mile stretch of toll road will include 150,000
tons of cement, 480,000 tons of limestone and
600,000 yards of ready mixed concrete.
Koehler, who is overseeing the company’s cement
portion of the project, praised the work of his peers
– Lynch and District Sales Manager Josh Bracke in
aggregates; and Lynch, Regional Vice President-
General Manager Tom Zais, Vice President-General
Manager Wes Salem and General Manager Marshall
Thompson in ready mixed concrete.
“This is a massive job for us,” Koehler said, “and
so we’re taking a vertically integrated approach that
has been incredibly effective and working closely
Customer
in Focus
14 January/February 2020 The Conveyor | www.martinmarietta.com
with our sales teams. It’s a win-win because we’re
seeing benefits to both our upstream and downstream
business lines.”
The Grand Parkway project experienced significant
weather- and design-related delays in 2019
but is expected to progress swiftly in 2020.
Lynch said the project is requiring the safe
efforts of several Martin Marietta teams, including
those at the Hunter Cement Plant, Medina Rock &
Rail, the Mont Belvieu Yard and multiple portable
batch plants.
Arguably the most heavily affected operation,
however, is the New Caney Yard, which was opened
two years ago in anticipation of the Grand Parkway
project and the local growth it would bring. The
yard lies about 10 miles from where much of the
current construction is taking place.
“We knew when we opened New Caney that it
was a ‘look-ahead’ yard,” Lynch said. “Fortunately,
commercial and residential activity will follow the
Grand Parkway. From this year on, we expect
volumes at New Caney to increase.”
Knowing that adequately supplying the Grand
Parkway project will take coordination from Martin
Marietta sites across the entire region, Koehler
and other local leaders said they and their teams
are prepared.
“Meeting demand is always a concern, especially
on a large project like this,” he said. “It takes a
great deal of logistical planning, but I’m confident
we’ll get it done.” ▼
SH 99 Grand Parkway
Segments H, I-1 & I-2
■ The construction work is
being performed by Grand
Parkway Infrastructure,
a joint venture between
Ferrovial Agroman,
Webber LLC and Granite
Construction, Inc.
■ Once completed, the
184-mile highway loop
will be the longest in the
United States.
■ The project requires
building or “substantially
reconstructing”
80 bridges.
‘A Massive Job’
Grand Parkway Project to Open Northeast Houston
For Residential and Commercial Growth
Photo by Senior Sales Representative Nathan Miner.
Work on the SH 99 Grand Parkway
was delayed in 2019 but is likely to
progress swiftly in 2020.
/www.martinmarietta.com