By BILL MARDIS, Editor Emeritus
A Washington DC-based firm has acquired Hinkle Contracting Corporation, a Paris (Ky.)-based company with a Somerset Division that for many years has been a major road-building contractor in Pulaski County.
Summit Materials recently revealed it has purchased Hinkle, an aggregate, asphalt, paving, concrete block and construction company founded by the Hinkle family in 1942. Hinkle, a name synonymous with road building in Kentucky, is a major player in nearly $200 million worth of highway construction in Pulaski County during the past five years.
Among some of Hinkle’s recent highway projects are constructing three sections of four-lane U.S. 27 from Science Hill to Eubank; the southwestern bypass from U.S. 27 through the Oak Hill community to Cumberland Parkway; the northern bypass (I-66) from Cumberland Parkway to the I-66 interchange at U.S. 27; and four-lane Ky. 1247 from southeastern bypass to the U.S. 27-Ky. 90 intersection in northern Burnside. Hinkle in 2003 paved the newly expanded runway at Lake Cumberland Regional Airport.
Hinkle operates 12 aggregate and 17 asphalt facilities and has over 250 million tons of limestone reserves. Hinkle’s Somerset Division, with offices on Monticello Street, was established in 1968. The company operates at four different locations in Pulaski County.
Roots of Hinkle Contracting go back to 1934 in the Paris area when Buckner Hinkle started managing his mother’s 167-acre farm. Along the way, he realized money could be made building ponds and purchased his first bulldozer.
Buckner Hinkle foun-ded Hinkle Contracting Corporation, initially named Buckner Hinkle and Company, in 1942. During World War II, the company worked on defense projects. At the end of the war, Hinkle Contracting began constructing highways.
Hinkle has a long history of road building in Kentucky. A news release from Summit said Hinkle’s existing man-agement team will remain with the company. The Somerset Division has about 250 employees in Pulaski County.
Summit Materials was formed in 2009 to develop a leading business in the aggregates and heavy-side building materials sector. The company was founded by its CEO Tom Hill and a group of investors that include members of its management team.
“We are very excited about teaming up with Hinkle Contracting and its first-class manag-ement team under the leadership of Henry and Tom Hinkle,” said Hill. “Hinkle Contracting is the leading heavy building materials business in Kentucky and is an ideal regional platform from which to develop further in Kentucky and surr-ounding states,” he added.
Summit Materials last year acquired Hamm Inc., a privately held aggregates, landfill, asphalt construction company located in Perry, Kansas.
