Marshall County will soon be home to a new, state-of-the-art INDOT maintenance facility. State and local officials broke ground yesterday on the $7.2 million project on Pioneer Drive north of U.S. 30. It will serve as a base of operations and salt building for the Plymouth Sub District. INDOT Statewide Director of Facilities Management Steve McAvoy says the existing facility dates to 1978 and is no longer capable of meeting the agency’s needs with regard to maintaining roads during the winter months.
“This facility is going to be much more efficient in the operation. Not just with servicing vehicles, but also with making brine, salt storage, delivery of salt. The whole process will be much more convenient and faster with this facility.”
Work on the project started last week. McAvoy says the Plymouth substation will go from being one of the oldest in the state to the newest when it opens in late 2017.
The current site is about 19,000 square feet. In comparison the new one boasts more than 40,000 square feet and will be equipped with eight garage bays for vehicular maintenance and salt storage that’s enough to equal five times our annual usage.
The new facility will be located just north of U.S. 30 at the intersection of Pioneer and Commerce Drives, west of Plymouth. INDOT Northwest Deputy Commander Rick Powers says the location has direct access to U.S. 30 and U.S. 31. It’s in close proximity to U.S. 6, and of course the neighboring highways in this area.
Powers adds the facility will allow for more efficient operation. The eight wash down bays will allow the state to create brine with salt residue from trucks. The liquefied salt is put down to pre-treat potentially slick roads. Powers says it costs pennies per gallon to make.
Plymouth Mayor Mark Senter says Commerce Drive will soon be named Jack Greenlee Drive in honor of the former two-term Plymouth mayor who died in 2015.
The INDOT Plymouth Sub District serves portions of Marshall, Starke, St. Joseph and Fulton Counties within the Northwest District.
