Our Company

Granite Construction’s roots are traceable to California construction license No. 89—one of the first 100 licenses issued on October 1, 1929.

Granite crews built nearly a quarter of the 444-mile long California Aqueduct otherwise known as the "Grand Canal."

In the 1920s and 30s, Granite crews worked on the legendary Route 66 through the Mojave Desert and built some of the first roads into Yosemite National Park.

Following World War II, Granite was the beneficiary of the country’s love affair with automobiles, including paving the first streets in its hometown of Watsonville, California.

Building Community

Granite Construction Company began building community in earnest when it laid the first pavements on Watsonville’s avenues. In 1903 the company placed the cornerstone of Watsonville’s Carnegie Library; the courthouse steps followed. In building the town’s most important civic structures, Granite was also laying its own foundation.

 

Granite’s roots are in the quarrying business. Building roads and civic buildings grew out of the supplying of stone. During World War II, Granite leaped into building US Army forts and air bases. After the war we cut our teeth on dams, levees, and mountain highways. Soon we were building all of the structures that are vital to cities: drinking water systems, power stations, sewers, and subway systems. On a grand scale, Granite built a major portion of the California Aqueduct that provides water to so many municipalities. Today we are building projects from one coastal community to another.

 

The work is varied, but the construction is always about bettering community, especially when the call to action is for building momentum, moving massive amounts of people and product inside of cities as well as among them.

 

Central to Granite’s success in city building is the construction of public transit systems. We are a major builder of all types of rail systems: light rail, monorail, commuter rail, and freight rail. Granite has built or is currently building infrastructure for rail systems in Atlanta, Baltimore, Daly City, Houston, Minneapolis, New York, Oakland, Philadelphia, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. Today Granite is pursuing $12 billion in rapid transit and rail projects to be bid across the country over the coming year.

 

Bill Dorey, former CEO of Granite, puts the firm’s view of community building plainly:

 

“As residents of the communities we work in, we are community minded and people oriented. We take pride in knowing that the facilities we help build will benefit our friends and families. We firmly believe that our time-tested philosophy of doing each job right the first time and providing good value to our customers is the true secret of our success. It made good sense a hundred years ago, and it makes good sense today—no matter how large or how small the project.” 
—Bill Dorey, Former CEO of Granite

 
 

Leadership

"We are being decisive in the actions we take to address today's challenges and proactive in our approach to positioning Granite for future growth." 

Jim Roberts
President & CEO

Question/Comment?

Contact Us