New city transfer station going up

JL Construction crews assemble the red iron that will form the framework for McCook's new transfer station building. (Tyler Bieck/McCook Daily Gazette)

In close to a month the City of McCook will be operating out of a new transfer station. The facility, next to the current transfer station southeast of Wal-Mart, has all of the concrete work and large beams support beams in place.

"It's fun watching the progress over there," said Rick Province, waste superintendent of the transfer station. "It's a pretty efficient crew of guys." The building is being erected by JL Construction and W Design is serving as the engineering firm.

The $588,300 project is being partly funded through grants totaling $253,000 from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and Nebraska Environmental Trust Fund. The remainder is being paid for with money borrowed against future sales tax receipts.

Province said that one of the most important features is simply the large size of the new building.

Whereas the current transfer station restricts truck movement, the proportions of the new structure will make for fewer headaches for the truck drivers as they will be able to maneuver much easier and improve efficiency -- "customer convenience" as Province said.

The new station will also increase the trash capacity, which is necessary when poor weather, such as high wind, shuts down the landfill and the transfer station transforms into a temporary trash warehouse.

Province said the extra storage could have been used earlier this year when the station nearly had to shut down because of an overload of waste during a period of bad weather.

Once the new transfer station is in the use, the old station will be used to house sanitation trucks, city equipment and repair trash containers.