ODOT to build new Sisters facility

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) will build a new 10,000-square-foot maintenance station off Highway 126 east of Sisters this spring.

The $2.3 million construction contract has been tentatively awarded to Kirby Nagelhout Construction Co. of Bend,according to ODOT spokesman Peter Murphy.

When it's completed later in 2012, the building will house the Sisters Maintenance Station staff and associated highway maintenance equipment.

"With the construction of this new building, ODOT will deliver a major boost to the construction industry here in Central Oregon," said Region 4 Manager Bob Bryant. "Plus, we were able to save taxpayers a significant amount of money by locating the new building on land we already owned."

ODOT is vacating its current site, leased from the U.S. Forest Service as the Forest Service attempts to sell its property in the city of Sisters.

The new maintenance building will be built on a portion of an ODOT aggregate pit located on the south side of Highway 126 approximately 1.5 miles east of Sisters.

The 2012 legislative session created a new statute that allows use of geothermal energy, in addition to previously mandated solar energy, on new public buildings. ODOT's new maintenance station will incorporate geothermal and solar energy to reduce the building's energy cost.