GRANITE CONSTRUCTION INCORPORATED (NYSE:GVA) announced today that it has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, an independent center of research promoting best practices in corporate ethics and governance, as a 2014 World’s Most Ethical Company®.

This is the fifth time that Granite has been honored with this award, which recognizes organizations that continue to raise the bar on ethical leadership and corporate behavior. World’s Most Ethical Company honorees understand the correlation between ethics and reputation. Granite is one of only three companies in the construction industry—and the only US-based construction company—honored this year.

“Receiving this award for the fifth consecutive year is a testament to the Code of Conduct that is pervasive inside our offices and on our jobsites today,” said James H. Roberts, Granite’s president and chief executive officer. “As an industry leader in the area of compliance, Granite’s commitment to ethical behavior far outdates the requirements for Codes of Conducts seen in today’s business environment. Our people are living the Code and it is our commitment to continue to foster a strong culture of ethics and integrity at Granite for generations to come.”

“The entire community of World’s Most Ethical Companies believe that customers, employees, investors and regulators place a high premium on trust and that ethics and good governance are key in earning it,” said Ethisphere’s Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Erblich. “Granite joins an exclusive community committed to driving performance through leading business practices. We congratulate everyone at Granite for this extraordinary achievement.”

The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient™ framework. The Ethics Quotient framework has been developed over years of effort to provide a means to assess an organization’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics. The Ethics Quotient framework and methodology was determined, vetted and refined by the expert advice and insights gleaned from Ethisphere’s network of thought leaders and from the World’s Most Ethical Company Methodology Advisory Panel.

Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (25%), reputation, leadership and innovation (20%), governance (10%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (25%) and culture of ethics (20%).

The full list of the 2014 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at http://ethisphere.com/worlds-most-ethical/wme-honorees/.

About Granite

Through its offices and subsidiaries nationwide, Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) is one of the nation’s largest infrastructure contractors and construction materials producers. Recognized as one of the top 25 largest construction companies in the U.S., Granite specializes in complex infrastructure projects, including transportation, industrial and federal contracting, and is a proven leader in alternative procurement project delivery. Granite is an award-winning firm in Safety, Quality and Environmental Stewardship, and has been honored as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Institute for five consecutive years. For more information, visit www.graniteconstruction.com.

About the Ethisphere Institute

The Ethisphere® Institute is an independent center of research, best practices and thought leadership that promotes best practices in corporate ethics and governance and enables organizations to improve compliance, mitigate risk, and enhance relationships with employees, business partners, investors and the broad regulatory community. Ethisphere evaluates and benchmarks compliance and governance programs, honors superior achievement through its World’s Most Ethical Companies® recognition program and publishes Ethisphere Magazine. Ethisphere is also the leading provider of independent verification of corporate ethics and compliance programs that include: Ethics Inside® Certification, Compliance Leader Verification™ and Anti-Corruption Program Verification™. More information about Ethisphere can be found at: www.ethisphere.com.