PHOENIX, April 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sterling Solutions, the nation’s leading manufacturer of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) access mats and a trusted partner for utility and energy infrastructure projects, today announced the formal launch of its Advance Site Access Consulting professional services offering. The offering formalizes and expands capabilities Sterling has provided on an on-demand basis to customers for years — reflecting the company’s role as a full-spectrum provider of site access products and services.
Accurately budgeting for site access is one of the more complex challenges in utility infrastructure construction planning. Unlike many project line items, access costs are shaped by a wide range of variables: regulatory requirements and environmental constraints, seasonal conditions and weather exposure, terrain stability across miles of route, equipment types and load requirements, and the operational timeline of each construction segment.
For decades, Sterling’s utility customers have turned to the company for guidance that extends well beyond the mat yard. By creating access plans prior to projects being bid, utilities, prime contractors, and EPC teams are brought together around a shared strategy — producing better outcomes when construction begins, rather than leaving any one party to generate a plan that affects everyone’s interests. Sterling’s team has consistently served as a front-line resource for infrastructure project teams navigating complex terrain, tight schedules and regulatory requirements.
“Our customers have come to see us as more than a mat manufacturer,” said Kaye Ceille, CEO of Sterling Solutions. “They trust our expertise and our judgment. Formalizing our Advance Site Access Consulting services is a recognition of the role we’ve always played — and a commitment to providing that expertise in a more structured, reliable, and scalable way as the demands on utility project teams continue to grow.”
Sterling’s Advance Site Access Consulting service engages preconstruction teams early — after routing and right-of-way concepts are established, but before Project Managers are assigned RFPs — to build a clear, executable access strategy grounded in real-world field conditions. The service includes a live, boots-on-the-ground assessment to evaluate current site conditions, going beyond computer-modeled analyses to account for the true scope of each project. A key outcome is RFP-ready documentation for utility companies with refined, accurate specifications that comply with planned permitting, reducing variability in contractor responses and the risk of an access contractor providing an insufficient bid.
The service delivers a comprehensive suite of planning outputs tailored to the specific needs of transmission and distribution projects, including:
- Access Route Mapping — Primary and secondary routes defined with clear ingress and egress points aligned to equipment requirements, terrain, and construction sequencing
- Wetlands & Floodplains Review — Integration of environmental sensitivities into routing and access method decisions, helping avoid delays associated with unidentified environmental considerations
- Access System Recommendations — Matting, bridging, gravel, and other solutions matched to site-specific loads, traffic frequency, and conditions
- Permitting Considerations — Access-informed insights to support realistic schedules and reduce barriers to achieving desired permitting outcomes
- SWPPP & Environmental Coordination — Alignment of access planning with approved environmental requirements for compliant execution
- RFP-Ready Documentation — Clear access scopes and assumptions suitable for inclusion in RFPs to reduce bid variability and help ensure all bidding contractors are working from accurate, comparable specifications
- Landowner Support — Access recommendations designed to minimize property disruption, proactively engage landowners to gain access off the ROW, and support constructive engagement during planning and walkdowns
As the United States enters a period of unprecedented transmission line construction — driven by grid modernization, renewable energy integration, and growing demand — the complexity and scale of utility construction projects have never been greater. Analysts and industry groups project that hundreds of billions of dollars in new transmission capacity will need to be built over the coming decade to support grid reliability and clean energy goals. Sterling’s Advance Site Access Consulting service is designed to meet that moment.
More information on Sterling’s Advanced Site Access Consulting services is available at sterlingsolutions.com/site-access-home/matting101/advanced-access-planning.
About Sterling Solutions
Sterling is America’s leading manufacturer of high-quality, cost-effective Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) mats, panels and systems. Our line of TerraLam CLT products is sustainably-sourced and domestically-produced at our commercial-scale plants in Illinois and Texas.
Our Site Access unit provides full-service matting and bridging solutions to the utility, civil, and commercial construction industries, including Site Access Planning, Environmental Compliance and other consulting services. In some markets, we offer Right of Way Site Preparation and Restoration, Access Road & Pad Construction, Staging & Laydown Yards.
Our Structural unit delivers cost-effective, pre-fabricated mass timber and hybrid structural systems complemented by exceptional technical expertise and project management for seamless delivery making mass timber accessible to the wider AEC industry.
For more than 75 years, Sterling has innovated and delivered sustainable solutions that meet customer needs, create jobs and economic opportunity across the supply chain, and reduce the risk & environmental impact of industrial, commercial and residential construction projects. More information is available at www.sterlingsolutions.com.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/97198c58-4fb5-44ae-86e5-22a2c0d0bc08