Railroad Helps Redevelop OK City as Asphalt, Concrete Plant

A 30-year-old, city-owned landfill is being converted into an asphalt- and concrete-making center that includes two plants and a distribution center shared by four companies, developers say.

The South Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad will begin hauling rock and sand -- the main ingredients used for roadway construction -- by railcar and dumping it at the site, said Jim Ayers, marketing manager for the railroad.

Del City Treasurer Sandy Kimerer said the railroad signed an annual $20,000 lease for the 51-acre lot, which is owned by Del City, Okla.

The materials will soon be used on-site at an asphalt plant currently under construction, which is to be completed sometime next year, said Ken Wert, president of Oklahoma City-based Haskell Lemon Construction Co.

A ready-mix concrete plant is planned for the property later, he said. The land was originally used as a landfill, but has been closed and inactive for about a decade.

Haskell Lemon Construction is one of three highway construction and materials sales companies that formed a partnership earlier this year after South Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad "aggressively" marketed the site as a rock and sand distribution yard and railcar unloading pit, railroad spokesman Ayers said.

"They all will use the rail service. That's the whole point," Ayers said.

Wert said the partnership -- dubbed Oklahoma Construction Materials -- includes Sherwood Construction Co. Inc. and Ritchie Corp., both of Wichita, Kan.

The newly formed company plans to make asphalt and concrete for use in its own highway construction projects, as well as market and distribute them to customers, he said.

Both Ayers and Wert say the property is valuable to all the companies involved in the project because of its eastern Oklahoma County locale and its proximity to the shortline South Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad, which runs from Tulsa to Snyder in southwest Oklahoma.

Ayers said 45 "rapid discharge" railcars will be used to deliver rock and sand to the site.

The railcars are expected to provide a more efficient and less costly means of transportation than tractor-trailers. That's because the railcars' floors open up entirely to discharge 100 tons of materials in just six to 10 seconds, he said.

"If we bring in 200,000 tons of material, that means that we will take 8,000 truckloads off the highway system. And that is a considerable savings on the companies and on the maintenance and repair of highways," Ayers said.