ODOT to construct new NW Ohio facilities

Ohio Dept. of Transportation information

LIMA — The Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) District 1 will begin construction this year on a new Paulding County maintenance garage and a new outpost in Hicksville.

The new Paulding County garage will be built at 833 Wayne Street in Paulding, the same location as the existing garage. A new outpost in Hicksville will also be constructed as part of the same contract and will be located next to the Hicksville High School on Ohio 2/49. It will replace the current facility located on Ohio 18 on Hicksville’s east side.

Estimated cost of construction of the Paulding County garage is $8.5 million. Estimated construction cost of the outpost is $3.5 million. Construction on both facilities is slated to begin August 1 and should be completed in a year and a half.

The design firm for both is Garmann Miller of Minster. General contractor is Touchstone/Tuttle Construction in Lima.

Employees of the Paulding County garage will be working out of a temporary location at 356 W. Wall St. in Paulding until construction is completed.

Due to the advancement in technology and equipment, the current garage built in 1978 is no longer efficient in meeting the needs ODOT has when it comes to roadway maintenance and snow and ice operations.

“Newer style loaders are much larger than the old ones and many of the new four-lane highways in the district require tandem dump trucks which are also much larger than the dump trucks at the time the garage was constructed,” said Kirk Slusher, ODOT District 1 deputy director.

The garage will be a full-service facility that will provide more truck storage, an upgraded above ground fuel system as well as a decanting station, which is required by the Environmental Protection Agency for dumping catch basin waste.

Within the plans is also an expanded mechanics’ area that will allow the mechanics the space needed to work on large equipment. A new two-truck wash bay will also be added. Currently, the garage does not have a wash bay and, as a result, trucks are washed in the truck storage area, which is detrimental to the structure of the building. A salt dome, pole barn, equipment storage building and fuel island will also be constructed.

“We’re looking forward to working out of an updated facility which will support us in providing good service to Paulding County,” said Ross Laukhuf, manager of the Paulding County ODOT garage. “We appreciate the investment the state of Ohio is making locally and specifically in our operations.”

The new outpost will feature five truck bays, a 2,000-ton salt storage facility, a truck wash bay and a decanting station. The facility will primarily serve the winter operations for both the Defiance and Paulding County maintenance crews.

“We can currently only store one of our older, shorter trucks at the existing outpost. This will allow us to store more and larger trucks, maintain them better and get to routes faster in the winter,” said Pat Dille, Defiance County ODOT manager.