MILLERTON — The new highway garage will host an open house for community members on Saturday, Sept. 14, from 10 a.m. until noon.
The new highway garage is located on Route 22 and has been in the making for about two years now. The process started in 2022 when the foundation was laid. Most of the construction happened during 2023, and the final touches and details were wrapped up at the beginning of 2024.
Compared to the old garage, which was 5,700 square feet, the current square footage is 12,720. With the extra space, more equipment can be stored and the garage has enough room for equipment to be worked on, if needed, unlike the last one.
“The old building was completely inadequate, it was 100 years old, the cinder blocks were coming apart, and it had asbestos issues,” North East Town Supervisor Chris Kennan said. “The door openings were not high enough to accommodate some of the equipment. It was not a professional workspace for our Highway Department and our Highway crew.”
The Town of North East’s old garage located on South Center Street. .John Coston
Throughout the construction process, four different trades worked on the building: a general contractor, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning). According to Kennan, from beginning to end as many as 50 different workers were involved in one way or another.
“Our new building will enable us to clean and maintain our equipment much better than we could in the old garage,” Kennan said. “It is more efficient, and more equipment can be kept indoors and in better shape as a result. All of this will enable our Highway Department to do a better job for our community.”
The open house is an opportunity for the community to see the hard work it took to be put together and the work the highway department does for the community.
