MERIDIAN, Idaho — The Ada County Highway District (ACHD) announced Wednesday that it will begin work on a new maintenance complex in Meridian, now that city approval is secured.
ACHD's new complex will be located on Ustick Road between Black Cat and Ten Mile roads, near Meridian's Wastewater Resource and Recovery Facility, according to a news release.
The Meridian City Council approved the annexation and ACHD's zoning application Tuesday night.
The complex is expected to be complete in 2029. ACHD said working with an architect on the design of the buildings and their pathways and landscapes is the first priority of development.
The new Ustick Maintenance Complex marks ACHD's third complex of its kind. ACHD also has maintenance complexes on Cloverdale Road in Boise and Adams Street in Garden City.
ACHD commissioners worked through the formal approval process of its integrated five-year work plan and secured funding to begin the design work for widening Ustick Road.
ACHD went in front of Meridian's Planning and Zoning Committee last year for an annexation and zoning request for operations to begin on the new maintenance complex. ACHD asked Meridian City Council members to defer discussion on the Ustick complex in September, giving its commissioners more time to finalize details.
Construction to widen Ustick Road is expected to begin in 2024 as originally planned, according to ACHD's news release.
"The tremendous growth throughout Ada County — especially in Meridian, Eagle, and Star — drives more demand for maintenance of Ada County roads in those areas," said Jennifer Berenger, Deputy Director of Maintenance. "The location of the proposed Ustick Maintenance Yard will help increase our response timelines in those areas, which is critical for essential services such as winter maintenance, emergency flooding, and response to illicit spills to protect our waterways."
ACHD will keep its headquarters at 37th and Adams in Garden City, but said it plans to move operations from the Garden City maintenance yard to property it owns on Apple Street off Federal Way in southeast Boise. The Apple Street location is in a heavy-industrial zone, while expanding residential development in Garden City is getting closer "than ever before" to the Adams Street site.
ACHD said it will relocate its Traffic Operations and Traffic Management Center to a new complex on Franklin Road.
"ACHD will evaluate what to do with any remaining unneeded property after all Maintenance operations are moved and operational," ACHD said in its news release.
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