Pierce County announced construction plans today that will enable the Road Maintenance Division to better serve the East County area. The new road shop, at 11701 Prairie Ridge Drive E., is scheduled to become operational by summer 2007.

A groundbreaking event at 1 p.m. Thursday, June 1 will kick off the $2 million construction project. County Executive John W. Ladenburg and Public Works and Utilities Director Brian Ziegler will make comments.

The East County Maintenance Facility will be located next to the county’s gravel pit near Prairie Ridge Drive and 120th Street East and will provide 2,480 square feet of office and crew space. “This state of the art and very well located facility will significantly improve our ability to deliver highly responsive and cost effective road maintenance and emergency response services,” said Bruce Wagner, the county’s Road Operations manager.

The facility will include eight enclosed heated and unheated truck bays and a fueling island. An architectural cement block wall was constructed to mitigate noise impacts to a nearby residential area, and truck idling will be limited to 15 minutes maximum. The project includes a landscape plan. Daily staffing levels will be in the 8 to 10 employee range with seasonal fluctuations.

The new shop, in conjunction with satellites at Lakewood and Purdy, is part of the division’s strategy for providing faster service – including the county’s award-winning pothole repairs – to those areas. That strategy also involves the Central Maintenance Facility to be constructed in the Frederickson area, allowing for closure of the Puyallup and Elk Plain road shops by the end of 2007.