Fill Dirt Delivery in San Antonio
San Antonio is expanding fast. The 1604 corridor is pushing outward, military-adjacent development near JBSA keeps the pipeline full, and south and west side growth zones are demanding structural fill at volumes that didn’t exist five years ago. Soil Depot’s Central Texas team keeps material flowing to, and surplus dirt moving off, the sites building this city’s next chapter.
The San Antonio Soil Landscape
San Antonio shares Central Texas geology with Austin but sits on flatter terrain. You still hit limestone and caliche, but the grading plans are less dramatic. The trade-off is scale. The 1604 loop is a construction corridor where commercial pads, distribution centers, and master-planned communities are going vertical at the same time. That means high demand for structural fill concentrated in specific zones.
Military construction near Joint Base San Antonio adds a layer of specification requirements that commercial work doesn’t always carry. PI limits are stricter, compaction testing is more frequent, and material documentation needs to be airtight. We source material that meets those specs and deliver it with the paper trail your project requires.
The south and west side expansion zones are where most of the new residential volume is heading. These areas are farther from established borrow pits, which means haul costs climb if sourcing isn’t planned carefully. We maintain supplier relationships along the I-35 and I-10 corridors to keep haul distances manageable.
Growth Zone Logistics
San Antonio’s construction is concentrated in predictable corridors: 1604 North for commercial, south and west side for residential, and JBSA-adjacent for government and military. Each corridor has different supplier access and haul dynamics. We plan sourcing by zone so your project doesn’t get stuck waiting on trucks coming from across the city.
Materials We Deliver in San Antonio
Every load is sourced to spec and delivered in commercial volumes for contractors, civil crews, and developers across South Central Texas.
Select Fill
Clean, compactable structural fill sourced to spec, including the stricter PI limits and documentation JBSA-adjacent and government work demand.
Common Fill
General-purpose fill dirt for bulk volume, elevation changes, and rough grading across the 1604 corridor and growth zones.
Fill Dirt
Bulk fill dirt delivered across the San Antonio metro for land leveling, backfill, and raising grade on expansion-zone sites.
Topsoil
Screened topsoil delivery for finish grade, landscape areas, and erosion control on master-planned communities.
Sand & Base
Cushion sand, concrete sand, and aggregate base for bedding, sub-base, and utility work across Bexar and surrounding counties.
Road Base & Crushed Concrete
Flex base and recycled crushed concrete for drives, distribution-yard laydown, and stabilized site access.
Dirt Export & Haul-Off in San Antonio
The 1604 corridor and the south and west side growth zones generate steady spoils alongside steady fill demand. We export surplus dirt out of San Antonio job sites and route it to active fill destinations across the metro, so clean material moves where it is needed instead of into a dump fee.
For grading and excavation along the 1604, I-35, and I-10 corridors, we coordinate trucks, track daily counts, and match your spoils to open orders by growth zone. One point of contact for both import and export keeps haul distances down and your earthwork on schedule.
Export Dirt From Your SiteCommon San Antonio Applications
The projects we handle most across the San Antonio metro:
Areas We Serve Across South Central Texas
We deliver fill dirt and soil, and run haul-off, throughout the San Antonio metro, including:
- San Antonio
- New Braunfels
- Schertz
- Cibolo
- Boerne
- Helotes
- Converse
- Universal City
- Seguin
- Selma
- Live Oak
- Bulverde
- Leon Valley
- Alamo Heights
- Fair Oaks Ranch
- Castroville
- Floresville
- Pleasanton
The Science of South Central Texas Soils
San Antonio is split by the Balcones Fault Zone. Northern Bexar County sits on the Edwards Plateau, shallow soils over the karstic Edwards Limestone that forms the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer. South and east along I-35 lies the Blackland Prairie with its deep, expansive clays. As in Austin, both regimes, rock to the north and high-plasticity clay to the south, push projects toward imported, spec-compliant fill.
| Soil series | USDA classification | Depth to bedrock / clay | Engineering behavior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Houston Black | Fine, smectitic, thermic Udic Haplusterts (Vertisol) | clay 40-60% | Deep expansive Blackland clay; high shrink-swell |
| Tarrant | Clayey-skeletal, smectitic, thermic Lithic Calciustolls | bedrock 6-20 in | Shallow over limestone; rock excavation common |
| Eckrant | Clayey-skeletal, smectitic, thermic Lithic Haplustolls | bedrock 4-20 in | Stony, shallow over Edwards limestone |
| Branyon | Fine, smectitic, thermic Udic Haplusterts (Vertisol) | clay 40-60% | Deep Blackland clay; cracks 1-3 in wide to 20 in+, 90-150 days/yr |
Classifications per USDA-NRCS Official Soil Series Descriptions. Confirm parcel-specific properties with the USDA Web Soil Survey.
Edwards Aquifer and federal-grade specs
Over the Edwards recharge and contributing zones across much of northern Bexar County, earthwork requires a TCEQ-approved water-quality plan before any soil is disturbed (30 TAC 213). Military and federal construction near Joint Base San Antonio follows the Unified Facilities Guide Specifications (UFGS Division 31), with project-specified Plasticity Index and compaction limits verified by Proctor and Atterberg testing and backed by certified documentation. The 2021 International Building Code flags soil as expansive at a Plasticity Index of 15 or greater. Growth is concentrated on the Loop 1604 corridor, where TxDOT’s $1.4 billion, 23-mile expansion from four to ten lanes is underway, and the San Antonio metro is among the fastest-growing large metros in the country (U.S. Census Bureau).
How We Spec & Source Material
Commercial fill is only useful if it meets the spec. We source select fill, flexible base, and structural material to the standards your engineer and the jobsite require, and deliver it with the documentation your testing lab needs.
TxDOT Item 132 - Embankment
The benchmark for select/structural fill: Type A material caps Liquid Limit at 45 and Plasticity Index at 15, with field density tied to PI. TxDOT 2024
TxDOT Item 247 - Flexible Base
Road base and stabilized access: Grade 1-2 caps Plasticity Index at 10 and Liquid Limit at 40, compacted to 100% of max dry density. TxDOT 2024
Compaction, Atterberg & federal specs
Material is verified by Proctor (ASTM D698 / D1557), Atterberg/PI (D4318), and USCS (D2487); federal/JBSA work follows UFGS Division 31.
Edwards Aquifer & stormwater compliance
Over the Edwards recharge/contributing zone, earthwork needs a TCEQ-approved water-quality plan before soil disturbance (30 TAC 213). Sites disturbing 1+ acre also need a SWPPP under the TCEQ CGP (TXR150000).
San Antonio Soil Delivery FAQ
References & Authorities
The technical claims on this page are grounded in primary sources:
- USDA-NRCS - Houston Black series
- USDA-NRCS - Tarrant series
- USDA-NRCS - Eckrant series
- USDA-NRCS - Branyon series
- USDA Web Soil Survey
- TWDB - Edwards (Balcones Fault Zone) Aquifer
- TCEQ - Edwards Aquifer Protection Program
- TxDOT - Item 132 Embankment (2024)
- TxDOT - Item 247 Flexible Base (2024)
- TxDOT - Loop 1604 North Expansion
- ICC - 2021 IBC, expansive soils (§1803.5.3)
- TCEQ - Construction General Permit (TXR150000)
Need dirt in San Antonio?
Tell us the material, the volume, and the site. Charlie will get you a quote the same day.