Pass the salt

Brad Schwenke and Gene Koehl of Covington’s Public Works Department check out the site where the new salt dome will go while Greystone Construction employees work on

Public Works erecting ‘dome’ at Russell St. home-to-be

for 1,500 tons of wintry road treatment

 

COVINGTON, Ky. – When some people go looking for a new home, they think in terms of a fenced-in yard, fireplace, two-car garage, and space for that collection of NBA memorabilia.

 

Covington’s Public Works Department needed space for 1,500 tons of road salt.

 

Knowing that “has salt dome” would prove to be a fruitless search, the department is building its own dome in essentially the back yard of its recently purchased home-to-be on 3.68 acres at 1730 Russell St.

 

Public Works employees recently graded part of the site between the warehouse-like building on the property and the CSX railroad tracks. The work included carving out space for a 65-foot by 80-foot pad and laying 6 inches of crushed rock to serve as its base. That base will be covered with 2 inches of asphalt.

 

Minnesota-based Greystone Construction will then build a rectangular dome using galvanized steel trusses and a membrane-like fabric skin of synthetic material.

 

With just under 30 feet of vertical space, the dome will hold 1,300 to 1,500 tons of road salt, Public Works Director Chris Warneford said.

 

“We hope to have it finished in early October, well in time for any winter weather that comes our way,” he said.

 

At some point, however, a steady convoy of dump trucks will move 500 to 700 tons of salt left over from last winter and currently under roof at Public Works’ Boron Drive complex in Latonia, said Right-of-Way Supervisor John Purnell.

 

68,000 square feet

The City hired Radius Construction in late August to renovate the 68,000-square-foot building on Russell. The building – the former home of Cincinnati Tag & Supply – will be subdivided to hold offices; the mechanics’ bays for the department’s Fleet Management Division; a sign-making operation; and storage for equipment, tools, supplies, and vehicles.

 

Barring unusually bad weather and supply-chain challenges, it could be finished in February 2022.

 

Public Works’ departure from the Boron Drive complex will pave the way for Rumpke Waste & Recycling to move in its regional headquarters.