The County of Rockland’s new Highway Facility has been named Project of the Year by the Rockland County Chapter of the New York State Society of Professional Engineers. On behalf of County Executive Ed Day & Superintendent Skip Vezzetti, Rockland County Highway Deputy Superintendent Andrew Connors PE proudly accepted the County’s award at a ceremony on September 18.
The Project of the Year award acknowledges the outstanding engineering of the facility for features including the Environmentally Sensitive Design that will lower the County’s carbon footprint, the state-of-the-art repair capability, and nominal site acquisition costs.
The County’s highway facility, located at 26 Scotland Hill Road, Chestnut Ridge, opened in Fall of 2023. The $40 million – 114,500-square-foot facility; consisting of 7 buildings; is sprawled across 20 acres that was purchased for just $1 from New York State Department of Transportation.
“Being named Project of the Year by the New York State Society of Professional Engineers is a tremendous honor for our county and a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved,” said County Executive Day. “This new highway facility reflects our commitment to excellence in public service and I couldn’t be prouder of this achievement and what it represents for Rockland.”
The facility features:
- A new maintenance repair building
- Indoor storage for our entire fleet
- Able to store 10,000 tons of salt, doubling our current capacity
- Generators and fuel capacity to maintain operations for two weeks without outside assistance.
- A green office building – including natural and recycled materials for construction and passive solar.
- The facility also has a large-vehicle wash building that will increase the life expectancy of County vehicles by 20%, saving about $190,000 a year & a shared use component during times of urgency.
“The Rockland County Highway Department has moved from the oldest, longest, continuously used county highway facility in the state to a brand-new, state-of-the-art, environmentally correct green facility located at the center of our service area to serve the residents of our county in the most efficient manner,” said Highway Superintendent Charles Vezzetti.
The prior facility was constructed in 1935 and first flagged for needed upgrades in the 60’s. But it wasn’t until 2020, when the County Executive along with the Rockland County Legislature passed a bond resolution for the construction, that the new facility became reality. The County Highway Department is also responsible for 72 bridges and 170 miles of road – both of which has Rockland rated as one of the top Highway Departments statewide.
