ERCOT is pushing new substation work across Texas. For you as a general contractor, that means more local infrastructure hauling and tighter delivery windows competing for the same truck hours.
If you’re pricing or scheduling site prep around utility infrastructure in North Texas, you need to start planning for stacked starts and overlapping mobilizations.
Why? Because substation growth is changing project schedules.
Large-load demand (think data-center and industrial connections) is bringing new substations and upgrades onto the calendar faster than the old cadence.
Expect more utility traffic on your corridors, more aggregate moving in short bursts, and less slack in crew calendars.
If your 2026 work includes utility pads, yard surfacing, or access improvements for these newer projects, assume higher competition for short-haul capacity. Especially on weeks with pours or grounding work.
Our point is that timing matters! And we’re expert at helping you organize hauling to suit your timelines.
Infrastructure Hauling Demand: Why Timing Matters
Substation jobs don’t finish in a weekend. They draw steady material deliveries over weeks – select fill for pads, flex base for access, bedding stone/sand for trench backfill, riprap where needed, and spoils out at the right moments.
When the market is busy, trucks committed to infrastructure hauling on one utility job won’t magically be free for yours tomorrow.
So our advice, from long experience in the business, is to lock material specs and delivery windows early so you’re not trying to book the same Thursday afternoon everyone else wants.
This means, use phase planning…
Infrastructure Work for Substation Projects: Plan By Phase, Not By Day
All phases fight for the same gate, the same haul route, and often the same short-haul capacity.
What keeps your crews productive is therefore phase-based delivery, not “as much as possible, all at once.”
So, if (for example) weather or lane limits push work to nights or weekends, match truck cycles to the active work so concrete, steel, and grounding crews don’t sit idle.
Crews don’t want a wall of trucks at 7:00 a.m. and nothing after lunch. They want the right tonnage at the right hours: clean handoffs between tasks and no bottlenecks at the gate.
That’s where an experienced direct hauler helps: staging loads to your plan, smoothing peaks, and keeping haul cycles tight so your pours start on time. Less scrambling on the radio, better output across your subcontractors.
How Cowboy Trucking Keeps Your Substation Infrastructure Hauling on Track
- Direct, local infrastructure hauling: We deliver aggregates and select fill to where you need them for substation pads, access roads, trench backfill, and yard surfacing across DFW and North Texas.
- Phase-matched scheduling: We align trucking with your build phases so materials show up exactly when each phase needs them.
- Tight cycles, fewer surprises: We coordinate gate times, egress limits, and no-idling rules to keep your crews productive and your pours on schedule.
- Utility-ready partner: We’re experienced working alongside utility prime contractors and civil subcontractors on public-sector schedules.
If substation work is on your 2026 plan, book with Cowboy Trucking early. We’ll line up the infrastructure hauling so your crews can work effectively. Let’s talk.
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