State accepts hefty price for clean weigh station

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State accepts hefty price for clean weigh station

Bellevue Leader - Bellevue,NE*

By: Hammel, Midlands News Service

03/31/2008

http://www.bellevueleader.com/site/news.cfm?

newsid=19439130 & BRD=2712 & PAG=461 & dept_id=556239 & rfi=6

LINCOLN -- A furry intruder has been discovered at a state truck

weigh station.

And the intruder -- mold -- is leaving behind a sizable bill for

taxpayers.

State officials say the mold infestation will require spending

$150,000 to $200,000 to demolish and rebuild the now-closed scales

building just west of Nebraska City on Nebraska Highway 2.

Officials at the Nebraska Department of Roads, which maintains such

structures, said gutting the building to remove the mold would have

cost between $75,000 and $135,000.

Removing the mold comes with no guarantees, so the state has opted

to tear the building down and rebuild, said Tom Sands, operations

manager for the Roads Department.

The work is expected to be completed by this fall.

" It's not an easy thing to correct when you have mold,'' Sands said.

The problem in the 12-year-old structure was discovered in December.

Mold was visible on walls and in ductwork, Sands said, and there was

concern about headaches reported by two state troopers who worked

there.

The troopers checked out OK after visiting a doctor, he said.

Two likely sources of the mold were found, he said.

One was a leaky window; the other was a previously undetected water

leak from a pipe beneath the building, which sits on a concrete slab.

Sands said it was the first time he has dealt with mold in a Roads

Department facility.

The weighing of trucks on Highway 2 has been hampered but not

stopped. Troopers are using portable scales for now, said Lt. Vicki

Streeter.

The state has 12 other weighing facilities. The Nebraska City site,

however, is one of only three in the state equipped with " weigh in

motion'' sensors that allow faster checks.