MoDOT Bowling Green Maintenance Facility To Move

Citing significant safety issues in a landlocked area, the Missouri Department of Transportation has purchased additional property at the U.S. 54 and Business 54 intersection just west of Bowling Green to build a new maintenance facility.

“The current facility is more than 50 years old, and over the years, our equipment has gotten larger than the building, making repairs and maintenance very challenging,” explained Kevin James, MoDOT assistant district engineer. “We already owned a piece of that property where our stockpile of materials is located, and now we will be able to have all our equipment and facilities together in a better location,” James said.

The Bowling Green maintenance facility has 18 full-time employees and takes care of approximately 300 miles of state highway in the Pike County area and maintains 71 state bridges and large culverts. “It has become very challenging to safety move equipment around at the existing facility due to limited space,” James explained. “We received a lot of interest from local organizations about purchasing the existing space should we decide to move, so we expect the building and grounds will be put to good use after we move,” he continued. The new location also will allow direct access to U.S. 54, so the large equipment will not necessarily always have to go through the town.

In addition to maintaining the state’s highways and bridges, all maintenance crews help maintain the roadsides to include mowing, clearing brush, trimming trees, replacing and maintaining driveway culverts, among many other tasks to keep Missouri’s transportation system in good condition.

The new facility is expected to be completed in late 2018 or early 2019 and is estimated to cost $1.2 million.