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| Highway Services Division Chief Richard Dorsey, MCDOT Director Al Roshdieh and Diane Brooks, widow of Leo Brooks, with plaque honoring this MCDOT employee who died on the job. |
Montgomery County Department of General Services
(DGS) Director David Dise and Department of Transportation (MCDOT) Director Al
Roshdieh celebrated the reopening of the Colesville Highway Maintenance Depot.
The improvement and expansion of the Colesville Depot
includes state of the art equipment and facilities to assist employees in
maintaining roadways. MCDOT’s Colesville and six other depots responded to
27,000 service requests in 2015, handling snow removal, pavement repairs,
sidewalk repairs, road shoulder maintenance, mowing, debris removal, tree
pruning, street sweeping, stormwater maintenance, leaf collection, storm
clean-up and drainage-related issues. MCDOT staff at the Colesville Depot
maintain 1,077 lane miles of County roadways and DGS also has staff there who
maintain and repair MCDOT vehicles.
“The re-opening of the expanded Colesville depot is the
most recent example of our on-going commitment to renovate and improve older
public facilities, thereby extending the public’s investment and delivering
better services to them,” said Dise.
The Colesville facility, originally built in 1981, has doubled in size from 5,596 square feet to 12,505 square feet. It will provide better accommodations for transportation employees. Staff stay overnight at the depot, working round-the-clock shifts until all roads are cleared of snow or an emergency is over. The improved accommodations include a crew and assembly area, locker rooms, full commercial kitchen, a conference room and an administrative office. Additionally, there are four vehicle maintenance bays, a tools warehouse and upgraded mechanical and electrical systems. The Colesville depot has a new roof, sprinkler system, emergency generator and ADA-compliant access.
“The Colesville Depot has been refurbished and expanded to
provide more efficient highway maintenance operations, bring it into compliance
with current life-safety and ADA standards, allow for better readiness of
Highway crews in weather-related emergencies, provide more repair bays for
truck and highway equipment repairs, and add more exterior facilities to store
roadway maintenance bulk materials,” said Leggett. “It’s also fitting today
that we remember one of our own, Leo Brooks, who worked at this depot and died
while on the job.”
The improvement and expansion of the Colesville Depot
includes state of the art equipment and facilities to assist employees in
maintaining roadways. MCDOT’s Colesville and six other depots responded to
27,000 service requests in 2015, handling snow removal, pavement repairs,
sidewalk repairs, road shoulder maintenance, mowing, debris removal, tree
pruning, street sweeping, stormwater maintenance, leaf collection, storm
clean-up and drainage-related issues. MCDOT staff at the Colesville Depot
maintain 1,077 lane miles of County roadways and DGS also has staff there who
maintain and repair MCDOT vehicles.
Roshdieh and Highway Services Division Chief Richard Dorsey
unveiled a plaque honoring Leo Brooks, a Montgomery County staffer at the depot
who died while driving an MCDOT vehicle.
“The revitalization and expansion of the Colesville Depot
will greatly improve MCDOT’s ability to provide the east county with a higher
level of service, especially when responding to seasonal storms,” said MCDOT
Director Al Roshdieh. “I want to thank County Executive Leggett for his
commitment to upgrading MCDOT’s facilities to ensure that staff have the proper
resources to do their work for the public. I’m also privileged at this building
rededication to unveil a plaque honoring the memory of Leo Brooks, a dedicated
MCDOT employee who was based here in the Colesville Depot.”
“The re-opening of the expanded Colesville depot is the
most recent example of our on-going commitment to renovate and improve older
public facilities, thereby extending the public’s investment and delivering
better services to them,” said Dise.The Colesville facility, originally built in 1981, has doubled in size from 5,596 square feet to 12,505 square feet. It will provide better accommodations for transportation employees. Staff stay overnight at the depot, working round-the-clock shifts until all roads are cleared of snow or an emergency is over. The improved accommodations include a crew and assembly area, locker rooms, full commercial kitchen, a conference room and an administrative office. Additionally, there are four vehicle maintenance bays, a tools warehouse and upgraded mechanical and electrical systems. The Colesville depot has a new roof, sprinkler system, emergency generator and ADA-compliant access.
Exterior improvements include a new salt barn that holds
8,500 tons of salt, three fabric canopy structures to protect other roadway
materials, and steel-framed truck sheds for Highway Services’ dump trucks and
equipment used for road maintenance. The site serves as a regional refueling
station for County vehicles and has underground storage for gasoline and diesel
fuel.
The improvements reflect the County’s sustainability and
environmental sensitivity initiatives. Specifically, the depot meets LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) guidelines by employing smart
technology, integrated stormwater management and bio-retention areas. More than
75 percent of the construction and demolition debris from the refurbishment was
recycled. The building is designed to use 18 percent less energy and 45 percent
less water than a standard building.
The Depot is located on 11.5 acres adjoining Colesville
Park and Paint Branch Park on Cape May Road. Construction cost $7.8 million.
The general contractor was Tech Contracting Company and the design consultant
was Whitman Requardt and Associates. Both firms are located in the Baltimore
area.
