Columbus Board of Public Works and Safety members awarded a bid to a North Vernon-based contractor for work on pedestrian improvements and a road realignment associated with a local employer’s expansion.
The board Tuesday awarded work to Dave O’Mara Contractors regarding improvements to County Road 225W after they submitted the low bid of $1,090,140.12.
The reconstruction project involves adding a 2-foot shoulder onto each 10-foot lane of the road between Deaver Road and County Road 300S. The project will also include the construction of a new 10-foot shared use path and the alignment of County Road 225W with the entrance to the new Toyota Material Handling facility on Deaver Road. The work is being funded with redevelopment dollars through the central tax increment financing (TIF) district.
The Walesboro Industrial park area is in the midst of a lot of work, including a recently completed $3.7 million project to install about 4,300 feet of new sewer line along Deaver Road. The new sewer line is for use at Toyota Material Handling’s $96 million new facility at the corner of Deaver and County Road 225W where the company will produce electric forklifts.
The expansion will create 85 jobs at an average wage of $28.88. The new employees are expected to be hired by 2026, with the hope being that production at the new facility begins in June 2026, per TMH. City Engineer Andrew Beckort said previously the plan is for all of the road improvements in the area to be wrapped up by the spring of 2026.
When the new factory is complete, Toyota’s Columbus footprint will grow to nearly 1.8 million square feet, six times larger than the 280,000 square-foot facility first opened in 1990.
The complete list of all the improvements being done in the area— which are also to encourage further development in Walesboro— are the following:
- Road widening and ditch installation along County Road 225 from Deaver Road to County Road 300S
- Road widening and ditch installation along County Road 300S
- Realignment of County Road 225W and a pedestrian cross walk across Deaver Road near the new intersection of County Road 225W
- Intersection/road improvements at County Road 175W to County Road 225W
- Realignment of County Road 150W to County Road 175W
- Widening of Deaver Road from County Road 150W west to County Road 225W
- Installation of a new sanitary sewer line along Deaver Road to the new Toyota Material Handling plant
