OTTAWA, Ohio (WLIO) - A project that was more than a decade in the making is now taking shape in Putnam County.
Dirt was officially turned on Friday along State Route 109 on the north edge of Ottawa for a new ODOT District 1 maintenance facility. The main building will be 31,000 square feet, doubling the current space. The property will include a new 4,000 ton salt dome, a 10,000 gallon fuel tank, a 60,000 gallon brine tank and a materials building.
Dirt was officially turned on Friday along State Route 109 on the north edge of Ottawa for a new ODOT District 1 maintenance facility.
ODOT offices will be on-site and there will be an area dedicated to vehicle and equipment maintenance. Officials say this blueprint is a vast improvement over their current situation.
"Over the years, we've just kind of outgrown the old facility; our equipment is a lot bigger, our dump trucks are a lot bigger, and we just lack a lot of the ability in that current garage to do what we need to do," said Chris Hughes, ODOT District 1 director.
"We've had to put a lot of money into the roofs, into the windows, into painting, but the lot itself is just too small, it's on five acres," said Rodney Nuveman, highway maintenance administrator for ODOT District 1. "We're moving to a 22 acre facility here, we can spread out a little bit and do the things we need to do to not only take care of the roads in Putnam County, but in the region as well."
ACI Construction out of Findlay will do the work on the $12.6 million project.
They hope to have everything wrapped up by this time next year with employees moving in by next summer or fall.
