BECKLEY, W.Va. — One of the original maintenance facilities built for the West Virginia Turnpike will soon be razed and a new, state of the art facility will take its place. The Parkways Authority recently signed off on the project slated for the operations in the Beckley area.
“We want to tear those down and put in a new maintenance facility to replace the ones that were built in the 1950’s,” said Parkways General Manger Greg Barr. “Also replace the State Police facility which is one of the old buildings from the 1950’s which was reengineered to support a State Police barracks.”
The cost of the project is expected to be $3.6 Million and it will take about two years to complete the 18,000 square foot facility. Barr said they’ll have to cope with the construction.
“We’ll start construction where the parking lot is now and work our way back into the existing maintenance building,” Barr said. “Our maintenance crews will be dispersed over to the heavy equipment shop which is across the road.”
Barr said it’s a project sorely needed because it’s one of the busiest garages on the Turnpike.
“It will have three maintenance bays capable of lifting three salt trucks. It will house the maintenance staff and equipment as well as the State Police in the central part of the Turnpike,” he said.
The construction will also include demolition of the existing salt storage facility which has fallen into disrepair. It will be rebuilt and made larger with the work which should get underway in a few weeks.