What's inside Rockland's $40 million highway garage?

Rockland County's $40 million highway facility has been named Project of the Year by the Rockland County Chapter of the New York State Society of Professional Engineers. 

The award acknowledges the outstanding engineering of the facility for features including the environmentally sensitive design that will lower the county's carbon footprint, the state-of-the-art repair capability, and nominal site acquisition costs.

The highway facility, located at 26 Scotland Hill Road in Chestnut Ridge, opened in Autumn  2023. The 114,500-square-foot facility; consisting of seven buildings; is sprawled across 20 acres that was purchased for just $1 from the New York State Department of Transportation.

The facility features:

• A new maintenance repair building
• Indoor storage for the department's entire fleet
• Able to store 10,000 tons of salt
• Generators and fuel capacity to maintain operations for two weeks without outside assistance
• A green office building, including natural and recycled materials for construction and passive solar

The facility also has a large-vehicle wash building that will increase the life expectancy of county vehicles by 20%, saving about $190,000 a year, and a shared use component during times of urgency.

The county Highway Department is responsible for 72 bridges and 170 miles of road.

The new Rockland highway department garage in Chestnut Ridge. Photo: County of Rockland

 “This new highway facility reflects our commitment to excellence in public service and I couldn’t be prouder of this achievement and what it represents for Rockland," stated County Executive Day.

The prior facility was constructed in 1935 and first flagged for needed upgrades in the 1960s. In 2020, the county executive along with the Rockland County Legislature passed a bond resolution for the construction.

“The Rockland County Highway Department has moved from the oldest, longest, continuously used county highway facility in the state to a brand-new, state-of-the-art, environmentally correct green facility located at the center of our service area to serve the residents of our county in the most efficient manner,” stated Highway Superintendent Charles Vezzetti.

Robert Brum is a freelance journalist who writes about the Hudson Valley. Contact him and read his work at robertbrum.com.