Koss Construction has been the paving business for one hundred years. 1912, George W. Koss began pouring concrete for railroad bridges in Iowa and the Upper Midwest. When automobiles began to supplant rail transportation in the 1920s, Koss converted its expertise in concrete bridge construction into paving concrete highways, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The firm helped pave many of the federal and state highways across the Midwest during the first spate of roadbuilding in the 1920s and 1930s, and was instrumental in building airport runways across the region during the 1940s and the postwar era. By the end of the 1960s, Koss had become one of the nation’s premier Interstate Highway contractors. As the United States ushered in the era of the Interstate Highways, new generations have maintained the company going forward without the Koss family at the helm.
The Koss role in building and rebuilding the highways that are a key component of the nation’s transportation infrastructure is well told in The Hard Roaders: A Centennial History of Koss Construction. The book tells the exciting story of how Koss has helped build the ribbon of highways that bind the region and the nation together. The Hard Roaders: A Centennial History of Koss Construction is an engaging history of the Topeka-based company during the past one hundred years and allows the reader a behind-the-scenes look at how one of the nation’s most successful highway contractors continues to pave the way to a successful future.
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