Construction Partners to Buy J.H. Strain Asphalt Assets
The Sunbelt road builder said the Abilene plants, fleet and 125-plus employees will extend Lone Star’s reach into West Texas infrastructure work.
Construction Partners, Inc. (ROAD) agreed to acquire J.H. Strain & Sons, Inc., adding two hot-mix asphalt plants, a fleet and an experienced workforce in Abilene, Texas, to its Lone Star platform.
The vertically integrated civil infrastructure company said the assets will give Lone Star a local base from which to serve public and private infrastructure customers throughout the greater Abilene area and West Texas.
President and Chief Executive Officer Fred J. (Jule) Smith III said the company is pleased to welcome Ross and Kent Strain and their team to the CPI family of companies. He described Abilene as a growing Texas market with a diversified economy and significant ongoing investment, including several data center-related developments.
Smith said the addition of J.H. Strain’s two hot-mix asphalt plants, fleet and experienced workforce provides Lone Star with a strong local presence from which to serve public and private infrastructure customers throughout the greater Abilene area and West Texas. He said the company welcomes more than 125 talented new employees to Lone Star and looks forward to working alongside Ross, Kent and their team to build upon J.H. Strain’s longstanding presence in the market and pursue continued growth together.
The deal follows a string of asphalt-focused purchases that have expanded CPI’s Texas and Sunbelt footprint. In February 2026, the company closed a Houston-area plant purchase from GMJ Paving Company, LLC, its twelfth plant in that metro. In October 2025, it took eight hot-mix plants and crews from Vulcan Materials affiliates into Durwood Greene Construction Co. Those Houston moves sit alongside Florida and Oklahoma plant and paving acquisitions that CPI has folded into platform companies such as C.W. Roberts Contracting and Overland Corporation.
CPI said it operates in local markets throughout the Sunbelt, including Texas, and focuses on the construction, repair and maintenance of surface infrastructure supported by hot-mix asphalt plants, aggregate facilities and liquid asphalt terminals. The Abilene plants and crews will operate under Lone Star, the company’s Texas platform, rather than as a standalone brand.
Smith’s remarks on data center-related developments in Abilene echo the company’s framing of other recent plant deals, including Ellsworth Construction in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, where CPI highlighted data center construction demand. The Abilene purchase is an asset purchase of J.H. Strain’s production and field assets, with the Strain brothers and their team joining the CPI family of companies.