Highway Facility Complex – Rockland County

A new state-of-the-art $35-million highway facility complex, storage, and repair facility was needed to meet the Rockland County Highway Department’s operational needs. This 24-acre location situated on the border between Clarkstown and the Village of Chestnut Ridge, in the Town of Ramapo, NY just north of New York State Thruway Exit 14a is set up to have an office building, operations building, vehicle storage, repair shop, truck wash, salt shed, fuel station and cold storage.

The Rockland County Highway Department is responsible for the F, construction, maintenance, supervision, repair and care of approximately 340 lane miles (167 centerline miles) of roadways, 83 bridges and 115 culverts. McLaren Engineering Group is providing overall project management, structural, foundation and civil engineering for this highway facility complex. With convenient access to Rockland’s roads and highways, the new facility will help reduce response times during snow emergencies and improve the County’s ability to maintain its highway infrastructure.

Construction of Administrative + Engineering Building

This Highway Maintenance complex includes:

• Administrative and engineering building providing office space for 60+ people, comprising the administration, operation, engineering, and drainage divisions of the Highway Department, as well as the County’s emergency backup computer operations
• Operations and maintenance building with space for repairs of department’s equipment
• Indoor garage space for trucks, vans, equipment and supplies
• Drive through, enclosed salt storage facility with a minimum 10,000-ton capacity
• Interior road network including access to the two main surrounding roads
• Internal roads and parking for vehicles and equipment
• Adequate paved parking for employee and visitor use (approximately 90 spaces)
• Diesel and gasoline fueling station

The McLaren Difference: Applied Ingenuity

The property is a long narrow site with substantial grading, limiting building placement options. Through balancing cut and fills and a pedestrian corridor, McLaren and the project team were able to come up with creative cost-effective design solutions to utilize the entire site and minimize inefficiencies. A custom steel bridge was designed to connect the Administration Building and the Operations Building, tying the upper and lower portions of the site together — allowing for a cohesive work environment on this challenging site.

For the Vehicle Storage Building, slab on grade was designed for increased durability to support the heavy loads of the plow trucks and other vehicles and resist the corrosive effects of road salt. The concrete is a Fibermesh® SIKA mixture of macro and micro synthetic fibers, that strengthen the concrete.

Parking layout, pavement design and roadways were a big challenge with regard to site access and circulation. For this uniquely shaped site, McLaren conducted a topographic survey that our geomatics team then used to layout an interior road network that allows trucks and vehicles access to Pascack Road and Old Nyack. Included in the design was the modification of signals at the Pascack Road intersection.

Green Building

All off-site drainage required for the construction of the site was considered as part of this design. Our civil engineering team developed an internal/external drainage system with careful consideration to the salt storage facility run-off. A detention basin and infiltration basin were designed based on the load capabilities and have a spillway once decontaminated.

Radiant flooring was installed in the Operations and Maintenance Building to help keep the machinery and tools at an even temperature. McLaren engineered the thickness of the concrete and load distribution over the piping installed and designed by the MEP subconsultant.

Highway Facility Coordination

To improve coordination throughout the project, McLaren communicated information efficiently with the design team, construction team and the client as well. Since it is such a big project the design team included multiple members including an MEP consultant, Architect, Landscape Architect, Programming and Site Development, Furnishings and Graphics and Registered Communications Distribution Designer (RCDD).

McLaren conducted an ongoing Value Engineering effort to reduce costs for this transportation facility. Evaluating drawings and making changes in order to meet budget constraints.

The project originally started in 2002, but due to the great recession and project amendments construction didn’t start until August of 2020. McLaren worked with the project team and the County throughout the process. Detailed drawings and renderings were produced to present the complex to the public.

Highway Facility Complex Aesthetic

McLaren prepared preliminary design plans that included site and building plans, interior layout, site infrastructure, and landscaping. These plans were sufficiently detailed to provide the county with enough information to adequately review the design and provide approval to proceed accordingly. The facilities were sited to produce an aesthetically pleasing, functionally efficient and economically constructible complex. The environmental area with a detention basin and infiltration basin, and landscaping were designed to screen the complex from the surrounding community.

For the Administration Building, the structural design required unique solutions to create a strong, cost-effective building that is sensitive to the unique architecture. The use of glued-laminated (Glulam) beams and Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) roof panels allowed for long spans that fly beyond the building envelope. This green solution, not only provides a pleasing aesthetic, inside and out, is also keeps the building heat or cooling in.