Rensselaer County unveiled a new highway garage Thursday. Officials say supporting infrastructure keeps the county running and bringing in revenue.
The roughly 4,700-square-foot garage and office spaces are part of a broader county effort to expand the reach of the highway department.
That’s according to County Executive Steve McLaughlin, recently re-elected to a third term, who fielded questions at the new county operation on Sand Bank Road.
“This is something that the people might not see every day. Most people are going to drive by never even think about a highway garage,” McLaughlin said. “But those men and women that are out there plowing those roads, and we just saw that a couple of days ago, they're putting in long shifts when they're doing that, they need a good place to work. And so, this becomes a real important piece of that more so than people would think, because when these guys come on, sometimes are on duty 24 or 48 hours, they got to have a break. They could have a comfortable place to be. But also, for us, it keeps our very, very expensive equipment protected when it's not in use.”
McLaughlin says the old garage will be used for storage. The roughly $3 million building complements several other highway projects in the county, where about 60 people work for the highway department. McLaughlin says the county has spent more than $20 million on new highway equipment countywide. Snow fell upwards of six-inches in many places across the county this week, the first serious snowfall of the season.
“When folks see a plow truck out there, and they're nice and new like that, those are $250,000 a piece, and we've added, we add a couple a year, and then there's little things that we did that were not being done before we got here,” McLaughlin said. “The bodies, the dump bodies on those trucks are now stainless steel that was never done. So, it's an extra $5,000, $6,000 per truck, but well worth it, because it protects it. And when they're not done, the salt just eats away at steel. But when it's stainless steel, you get more use out of it, and it's a much more professional look, you know, for what the you don't want to see a truck body rotting out, and that would happen rapidly.”
Another politician at the ‘grand opening’ of the new garage, was County Legislator Ken Herrington. He says he’s never seen county roads in such good shape. The Republican, who represents District Three, says that’s the way it should be, that those who support public infrastructure should be better funded.
“We got some damn new, good looking new equipment, and we got pieces of equipment that we always needed but never got,” Herrington said. “So, I mean, I can't say anything that hasn't been said before, I guess, but it's just amazing.”
McLaughlin says the new space accommodates more salt storage than the former one. Last year, a shortage of road salt statewide left communities with insufficient supplies for the weather.
“We do have some more room for salt. And also, in Brunswick, we're building a salt shed there as well. So, we do pretty well with our salt,” McLaughlin said. “We hate, you know, every time it snows, that's like dollar signs coming out of the side, out of the sky. For me, as I look at it always seems to snow on weekends and holidays. So that's like OT and double OT and triple OT and all that. But you know that the guys and girls work really hard. They do a great job. So, yeah, we do have we do pretty well. You know, keep staying on top of our salt.”
