TRP Infrastructure Acquires Five Companies, Expanding Texas and Mississippi Footprints

The Daily Dig

TRP Infrastructure Services has acquired five companies in a move that reshapes its footprint across Texas and the Southeast. The deals bring Interstate Barricades & Markings, Alamo Roadway Materials, Traffic Control Products Co., DIJ Construction, and Batterson LLP into the TRP portfolio. TRP is a portfolio company of Arlington Capital Partners, which first invested in the business in 2021. The company is headquartered in Fort Worth and specializes in pavement marking, traffic control, and guardrail work.

The acquisitions also give TRP what it needed to launch Gulf Highway Materials, a new thermoplastics manufacturing division built around three production facilities picked up in the deal. Gulf Highway Materials is intended to supply TRP's pavement marking projects across the region. Arlington Managing Partner Michael Lustbader said the Central and Southeast U.S. are among the fastest growing regions in the country, which is putting more pressure on aging roadway infrastructure.

The geography matters as much as the material supply. Traffic Control Products Co. gives TRP its first location in Mississippi, based in Pearl. DIJ Construction adds a branch in Bertram, Texas, and the Batterson acquisition adds to TRP's existing presence in Houston. With this expansion, TRP now operates more than thirty locations across ten states: Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Virginia.

Leadership from each acquired company is staying on in operating roles rather than exiting after close. Cody Clark, who co-founded the prior owner of Interstate Barricades & Markings and Alamo Roadway Materials, becomes Vice President of Business Development and Growth for Gulf Highway Materials. David and Wendy Garner take over as Co-Branch Managers of the new Pearl, Mississippi location. Kellen Floyd steps into Branch Manager at the Bertram, Texas site, and Mike and Stacy Batterson continue running one of TRP's Houston locations as Branch Manager and Project Manager and Estimator.

Arlington also pointed to a longer term strategic goal tied to this expansion. Principal Mark Giragosian said Arlington plans to invest in automation and robotics technologies as autonomous vehicle adoption grows, aimed at improving safety for drivers and roadway workers.

TheJobWalk Thoughts

The thermoplastics division is the piece worth watching here. TRP now controls three manufacturing plants feeding its own pavement marking work. In this trade, owning material supply generally means more control over cost and schedule than depending on outside vendors, which makes this a real structural advantage regardless of what share of total demand the plants end up covering.

For GCs and DOT contractors working alongside TRP in Texas and the Southeast, this is worth factoring into scope splits and subcontractor selection. Marking contractors with their own material supply generally have more flexibility on cost and schedule than those without one, and TRP just moved into that category.

The Pearl, Mississippi location is TRP's first foothold in the state. It signals intent to grow there, and local subs and suppliers in that market should expect TRP to become a more active bidder over time, even though the announcement does not lay out a specific timeline.

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