New salt barns rise at Riverhead highway yard

Construction on two new salt barns at the Riverhead highway department yard on Osborn Avenue near Route 58 should be wrapping up within the week, town officials said.

One of the two new barns, which cost $700,000 to construct, holds 500 tons of salt and the other holds 1,000, said highway superintendent George “Gio” Woodson.

The old barns, which were built in the 1950s, were torn down in October. The two new ones are metal framed and covered with rubberized canvas, Mr. Woodson said.

The demolition work and construction of the new barns was awarded to DeLailo South Fork Asphalt company in September. That group then subcontracted the job to Long Island Builders.

Mr. Woodson, who was elected to a second term as town highway boss in 2009, said the new barns would have cost about half the current price, had the Town Board acted to build the structures some five years ago, something he says he had been pushing for.

He also said work is also set to soon start on paving the parking lot at the highway department property, “to make it look more professional.”

That money is coming from the highway department’s budget, he said.

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