Republic file photo Columbus City Hall is shown in downtown Columbus.
The Columbus Redevelopment Commission gave initial approval to expend funding for road improvements, some that are required as part of a local employer’s expansion.
The commission agreed to provide up to $1.8 million to pay for infrastructure improvements related to Toyota Material Handling’s $96 million expansion to a new facility at the corner of Deaver and County Road 225W where the company will produce electric forklifts. Other improvements encompassed in the project are to encourage further development in Walesboro Industrial Park.
Columbus City Council members will need to approve the funding because it is a city expenditure greater than $500,000. The funding will come out of the central tax increment financing (TIF) district, which is expected to end the year with a balance of $12.3 million, according to city documents.
The work includes the realignment of County Road 225 W to align with Toyota’s driveway, a new pedestrian crossing, the widening of Country Road 225 up to County Road 300 S and a new side path trail along the County Road 225 frontage across to County Road 300 S.
City Engineer Andrew Beckort said the idea is to open bids on the project in July, start work this fall and wrap it up in the spring of 2026.
The road work is the second of two projects redevelopment has undergone as part of the Toyota expansion, following $3.7 million of funding that was directed towards installing 4,300 feet of new sewer line along Deaver Road. The funding was finalized by Columbus City Council members earlier ths month.
The sanitary sewer will be installed and operational by July 31, a representative from Bowen Engineering, which is doing the sanitary sewer work, said previously. The sanitary sewer improvement will also use the build-operate-transfer procurement method, which city council members approved the usage of in July of last year.
Build-operate-transfer (BOT) is a public/private partnership style of procurement method where a municipality enters into an agreement with a developer, in this case Bowen, who is responsible for the design, construction and operation of a project. The developer operates the project for a certain time period before the project is transferred back over to a municipality. Columbus City Utilities will be overseeing the construction and inspection of Bowen Engineering’s work.
All of the improvements being done in the area are the following:
- Road widening and ditch installation along County Road 225 from Deaver Road to County Road 300 S
- Road widening and ditch installation along County Road 300 S
- Realignment of County Road 225 W and a pedestrian cross walk across Deaver Road near the new intersection of County Road 225 W
- Intersection/road improvements at County Road 175 W to County Road 225 W
- Realignment of County Road 150 W to County Road 175 W
- Widening of Deaver Road from County Road 150W west to County Road 225 W
- Installation of a new sanitary sewer line along Deaver Road to the new Toyota Material Handling plant
The improvements to County Road 175 and the sanitary sewer construction were explicitly required as part of the Toyota expansion.
City Engineer Andrew Beckort said previously that improvements like the realignment of County Road 150W to County Road 175W had been a part of the thoroughfare plan for “at least 10 years.”
