Eau Claire County Highway Dept. seeks new location

Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Clint Berge | WQOW

Eau Claire County (WQOW) - As the City of Altoona continues to grow, so does the need for resources to maintain infrastructure. However, Highway Commissioner Jon Johnson said the facilities are not up to par.

On Thursday, the Eau Claire County Highway Department Committee will meet to discuss four different parcels of land where they could construct a new highway shop.

Johnson said some of the storage buildings at the current facility in Altoona are nearly 100 years old and lack space. He said just keeping the current location in operation would cost $3 million to fix issues, like heating and cooling and electric work.

Currently, the shop sits on 12 acres off of Spooner Ave., but he said the new site will need to be more than double that size to house all of their equipment.

"At some point you have to reinvest into your infrastructure and your facilities, and we know we are at that point, but let's do the right thing and think it out and make the right steps there," Johnson said. 

They will release the four options for a new site at a meeting Thursday morning at 6:15 a.m. at 2000 Spooner Ave. in Altoona.

A facility study showed purchasing new land and building facilities could cost more than $18 million.

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