THE HISTORY OF DAVID A. BRAMBLE, INC.

The origins of David A. Bramble, Inc. began in the late 1930's when David Bramble went to work as a truck owner and operator.  At the beginning of World War II, he sold his trucks and put this money in a savings account.  He enlisted in the Army Air Force in December 1941 and became a pilot in the 8^th Air Force.  After the war in 1947, David took the money that he had saved while he was in the military and went into the construction business with several partners.  By the early 1950's, David had bought out his partners and was running the business as a sole proprietorship.

The company started doing soil conservation work, smaller grading projects and worked as a subcontractor on highway projects.  The company progressed into bidding and building county and municipal projects, and by the mid 1950's was building county roads.  During the late 1950's, the company was also pre-qualified by the Maryland State Road Commission to bid on work and was able to win SHA projects.  At the end of the 1950's, the company had become large enough that it needed limited liability, so it was incorporated in 1959.

In 1961, the company hired David K. Sharretts and entered the hot mix asphalt business.  The company bought a hot mix asphalt plant and placed it in upper Queen Anne’s County.  The first major project that the company paved was Route 213 from Route 301 to Route 50 as a part of a complete reconstruction of that highway.  During the 1960's, the company engaged in a number of secondary highway reconstruction projects in the upper Eastern Shore of Maryland.  These included Route 282 in Cecil County, Route 291 in Kent County, Route 544 in Queen Anne’s County, and Route 33 in Talbot County.  In 1966, the company opened its second asphalt plant in Easton at the Arundel Corporation stone terminal.

The company continued to grow during the 1970's.  In 1972 David A. Bramble’s son, David C. Bramble (Danny), returned from military service and went to work as a project manager.  The company received the first of many Maryland Asphalt Association paving awards for quality paving in 1970.  In the late 1970's, the Choptank River Bridge on Route 404 collapsed and David A. Bramble, Inc. was a subcontractor for McLean Contracting during the construction of the replacement bridge.  This job led to the reconstruction of Route 404 and Route 328 in Denton, Maryland, on which David A. Bramble, Inc. was the low bidder.  This was the first multimillion dollar job that the company performed and upon completion in 1980, David A. Bramble, Inc. was awarded the National Asphalt Paving Association (NAPA) Award for Quality Paving on a state highway project.  This is the highest paving award that can be achieved for an overlay project less than 30,000 tons.

In the 1980's, David A. Bramble, Inc. maintained its role as a major contractor and built most of the highway projects on the upper Eastern Shore of Maryland.  One of the first of these projects was the dualization of Route 404 in Caroline County in the early 1980's. For this project, David A. Bramble, Inc. purchased a third asphalt plant which was initially located in Denton, but was later moved to Wye Mills for the Route 50 projects.  In 1986, at the completion of this project, the company received the Sheldon G. Hayes Award for major highways, the most prestigious award that NAPA offers.  David A. Bramble, Inc. was the first company in Maryland to win this award.

While working in Denton, David A. Bramble, Inc. renewed its relationship with McLean Contracting that had begun in the 1950's. David A. Bramble, Inc. asked McLean to form a joint venture partnership to pursue major work on Route 50.  This work was scheduled for the middle to late 1980's to reduce the beach traffic from the Western Shore to Ocean City.  This was the beginning of the "Reach the Beach" program.  The plan was for McLean to build the bridges and David A. Bramble, Inc. to do all the remaining work.  Starting in 1984, this relationship was successful in winning every project on the Route 50 corridor in Queen Anne’s County, a total of five projects with a value of more than $70 million.

In the middle of the 1980's, David A. Bramble, Inc. worked as a subcontractor on the Choptank River Bridge replacement on Route 50 in Cambridge, working with both parties of the Joint Venture Contractors, McLean Contracting Company and G.A. & F.C. Wagman, Inc.  Subsequently, David A. Bramble, Inc. was the prime contractor on the reconstruction of Route 50 which tied the new bridge into existing Route 50 and the urban reconstruction of Route 50 through Cambridge.  These three projects removed the "Reach the Beach" bottleneck in Cambridge.  The Route 50 project in Cambridge was the first incentive (a monetary bonus for early completion) project the company bid and was successful in achieving the entire incentive payment.

During the 1980's, David A. Bramble, Inc. was the successful bidder on a project for Easton Airport.  This was the first of a number of projects that the company has completed on the municipal airports in its area.  These projects have ranged from small parking aprons to a $5 million runway extension at Easton Airport.

In 1992, as the work on Route 50 was ending, G.A. & F.C. Wagman asked David A. Bramble, Inc. as a joint venture partner, to bid on a section of SR1 in Dover, the new toll road in Delaware.  The joint venture was not the low bidder when the job was bid, but the bids were thrown out due to a bid protest.  On the second try, the Joint Venture was the low bidder on a $17 million project.  As in our other joint ventures, Wagman built the bridges and David A. Bramble, Inc. did the remainder of the work.  This marked the first time that the company had a major project outside of Maryland.

In the 1990's, David A. Bramble, Inc. was the successful bidder on major highway projects in both Maryland and Delaware.  Larger projects included the dualization of five miles of US Route 113 in Sussex County, Delaware, construction of MD Route 213 Overpass of US 301 in Queen Anne’s County, construction of a $17 million truck weighing station on I-95 in Cecil County, and the construction of a complete sewer collection system for the Tolchester community combined with the upgrade of the existing sewer system in the nearby community of Fairlee in Kent County, Maryland.

During the 1980's and the early 1990's, the company ownership changed hands as David C. Bramble purchased all of his father’s stock. The final transfer of stock was completed in 1996.

During the late 1990's and early into the 2000's, David A. Bramble Inc. completed some major projects.  These include construction of Scarborough Road in Dover, Delaware, a $13 million new road to link US Route 13 with the west side of Dover’s industrial area, and in a Joint Venture with G.A. & F.C. Wagman, Inc., the construction of the $25 million SR1 Puncheon Run Connector which connects US 13 on the south end of Dover to the SR1 toll road.  David A. Bramble, Inc. also constructed a $5 million overpass of MD 291 over US 301 in Kent County, Maryland and adding a $1.5 million runway extension at the Cambridge-Dorchester Airport.

The company started off the new millennium with three hot mix asphalt plants, one batch plant for versatility and two high-tech drum plants for larger production demands.  It owns more than 150 pieces of major construction equipment, operates a fleet of 75 trucks and is one of the largest employers in the upper Eastern Shore area.  The members of the company management team have over an aggregate of 300 years experience in construction and look forward to beginning the next project on the horizon.