A generational investment

New plant to supply North Texas with cleaner, higher quality limestone

With eyes focused on one of the fastest-growing metros in the United States, Martin Marietta is modernizing its Bridgeport-Chico facility in a move marking not just the second largest capital project in the company’s history, but a significant step toward realizing a strategy designed to ensure a generational competitive advantage.

The new plant currently being built at the joint operation 80 miles northwest of Dallas will produce a cleaner, higher quality limestone product that will help supply the massive population growth occurring across North Texas.

“The key message here is we are strengthening our leading position in North Texas for decades. Our team is constructing a safe, sustainable, and customer-focused facility in one of the country’s largest metro areas,” says Vice President of Strategic Planning Oliver Brooks. “This is a clear example of Martin Marietta’s SOAR process working exceptionally well.”

The Chico team will move away from its original Martin Marietta name, opting to rebrand its operation. The site will now be known as Bridgeport and North Bridgeport.

“We’re upgrading the product offering and the customer experience,” says Area Production Manager Judsen Adams. “The limestone will still be the same, but the processing will be different. North Bridgeport’s rock will now be produced to the same specs as the rock provided by Bridgeport.”

General Sales Manager Mark Morgan says the people – be they employees or site customers – are the most important element in the entire project.

“We want to make sure that our team members at Chico understand that their site’s name may change, but that does nothing to diminish the value of their work. We want them to have a renewed sense of pride and to rally around this new plant,” Morgan says. “We’re also working to make sure we address our customers properly. We want them to understand everything that we’re doing to enhance the overall customer experience.”

While local truckers and haulers will certainly enjoy many of the new amenities the team hopes to offer, what is most likely to please customers is the fact that the new equipment and fully automated loadout system will allow the North Bridgeport team to cut the time it takes to load a truck by more than 50%.

Adams says it currently takes about 22 minutes to load a customer truck. Once the new plant is completed, customers will be in and out of the site in about 10 minutes.

Construction at the site is expected to be done by the end of the year with a grand opening occurring sometime thereafter, Brooks and Adams say.