Throughout its history, the company has taken the long view, doing its best to anticipate the future and position itself for opportunities. The years after World War II are an example. At that time, the company’s work for San Antonio’s City Public Service Board (CPSB) consisted of upgrading power distribution systems, but this was the tip of the iceberg compared to the demand for full-fledged power plant construction that was to come. Sensing the opportunity, the company created an Electrical Construction Department, and became the preferred contractor for the CPSB.

This meant that in 1953, with qualified electrical and mechanical engineers on board, Zachry was ready for its first fully-fledged turnkey power plant, the Lon C. Hill Unit 1 Station, a gas/oil-fired facility for Central Power & Light outside Corpus Christi, Texas.

Since then, the company has built more than 100 plants across the U.S. with a total generating capacity of more than 60,000 megawatts of electricity. This would be enough to meet the average one hour demand of the six largest cities in the U.S. combined.

Not bad for a company that 30 years earlier had used mule teams to help build a single highway bridge.