Import, Export and Haul-Off for Casper, Wyoming Sites

WYO 254, the Salt Creek Highway, runs 4.06 miles from Mills through Bar Nunn to the interstate at exit 191, and any dump truck working the north side of town lives on it. Hauling dirt is a road problem before it is a dirt problem. The trucks need an entrance, a route that does not collide with school buses and a place to dump that will take what they carry.

Import is the fill, aggregate or topsoil we bring to a site because the site does not have enough. Export is the excess, the unsuitable soil or the demolition debris that has to leave. Haul-off is the same job in reverse, and it is usually the line item that surprises owners most. A big cut with nowhere to put it is a budget problem that appears as soon as the first scraper loads.

We run the hauling on a planned route, with tickets for every load, drivers who know the site, and a plan for mud, dust and noise. We treat the haul route as part of the project, not as a task that happens somewhere off the plan sheet.

What we haul and how we account for it

Typical loads include structural fill, base rock, sand, topsoil, concrete rubble, asphalt millings, spoil from trenches and cuts, and soft material from over-excavation. Each one has its own acceptance rules: structural fill must meet the gradation (see engineered fill and soil stabilization), topsoil must be free of debris, and some spoil needs testing before any receiving site will take it.

Every load gets a ticket with date, truck, material, source and destination. The tickets support payment, quantity verification and environmental records. We reconcile them against survey volumes every week, so a drift between the dirt moved and the dirt planned is found early. For import projects, we also keep delivery records of the supplier's certificate, which the engineer wants before the material goes into a structural pad.

The roads and rail that shape local hauls

The Casper area has a useful road network: Interstate 25, the US 20, 26 and 87 routes that leave the interstate at Beverly Street, and state highways around the metro. North of town, I-25 has exits at Wardwell Road, Westwinds Road (opened October 5, 2018) and Ormsby Road. The north Casper corridor is where many of our haul routes start and end.

The rail yard northeast of the airport has 18 tracks over about 250 acres and handles bentonite, barite, wind-energy components and construction materials, including a rebar project. Material that arrives by rail can be transloaded to trucks, which shortens the haul for projects near the Casper Logistics Hub. We check the yard's activity when planning imports for nearby sites.

Route, cycle time and the number of trucks

The first thing we compute is the cycle: load, travel, dump, return. Short cycles need fewer trucks, and long cycles need more. Too few trucks starve the excavator; too many create a line at the entrance. We aim for the number of trucks that keeps the loader working without a queue.

The route is mapped and driven before the first load. We choose roads with the capacity for loaded trucks, avoid weight-restricted bridges, and work around school pickup times and commuter peaks. At the site entrance, a stabilized rock pad, a wheel wash if needed and a flagger keep mud off the public road. At the dump end, we confirm hours, scale or ticket rules and the unloading area before we send anyone.

What the price per yard depends on

Distance and cycle time are the main drivers. A haul that is two miles each way is a fraction of the cost of one that is twenty. Next come the dump fees, the material cost for import and the equipment hours for loading. Weather days, standby for inspections and a lack of dump space all add cost.

A tight project with a nearby balancing site wins on trucking. A project that exports to a distant approved facility pays for every mile. We help owners find a closer home for clean spoil, such as another project that needs fill, and we price the alternatives so the owner can see the trade-off. The numbers feed the earthwork planning in cut and fill earthwork.

Suitable, unsuitable and contaminated material

Not every dirt pile is clean. Fill hauled from a site with industrial history may require testing before it can move, and some material must go to a permitted facility. East of town, the refinery area and nearby corridors have long industrial use, as described on our East Casper industrial area page, and similar ground deserves care wherever it is found. We never haul material without knowing its source and its test status.

Debris from a teardown is its own stream, and the demolition and site prep plan should say where concrete, asphalt and metal will go before the first wall comes down. Unsuitable soil is a different matter: soft, wet or organic material that cannot be reused as structural fill but is not contaminated. It can often be used in landscape berms or non-structural areas. Matching the soil to the right use saves disposal costs and trucking. For stripping and reuse, see topsoil stripping and stockpiling.

Where we run trucks

We haul within Casper, Mills, Bar Nunn, Evansville and the surrounding Natrona County roads, as well as east along the corridor toward Glenrock when a job calls for it. Work for general contractors and CM firms often starts with a haul plan that we write at bid time. A warehouse building owner will see this in the price long before the first truck turns a wheel.

Owners can help by telling us early what the site will accept. If a pad has room for a temporary stockpile, trucks can unload quickly and return. If the site is landlocked, every load has to be metered, and we plan around the receiving crew's pace instead of the loader's. A short call about the entrance, the scale and the dump hours at the start of the job saves arguments at the gate.

Send the earthwork balance and the site entrance

We will return a haul plan with route, truck count, cycle time and a price per cubic yard in or out. If the dirt does not have a home yet, we will help find one before the first load.

Questions Owners Ask

How do you decide between importing and reusing on-site soil?

Cost and quality. If on-site soil meets the specification, reuse saves trucking and material. If it does not, import is the only choice. We test before we decide and provide a side-by-side price when the choice is close.

Can you find a place for our excess dirt?

Often. Clean spoil is useful to projects that need fill or berms. We can look at nearby sites and approved receiving areas and give you options with haul costs. Contaminated or unsuitable material must go to a permitted facility.

How do you keep mud off the road?

A rock construction entrance, a shaker pad, and a wheel wash when needed. We sweep as often as conditions require and keep a water truck for dust. The traffic plan assigns someone to watch the entrance every day.

Are hauling trucks limited by weight?

Yes. Bridges and local roads may have weight restrictions, and some seasonal limits apply on county roads. We confirm legal loads and permit needs before we send a truck, and we choose routes that fit them.

What documentation do you provide?

Load tickets, weekly quantity reconciliation, supplier certificates for imported material and disposal receipts for exports. Owners and engineers can audit the record at any time.

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