Construction

The Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics is planning to build a new facility at Hagerstown Regional Airport. On Wednesday, Gary Hoyle, PIA's director of campus operations, said there will be a 99-year lease, the sign of a long-term commitment to this area. Washington County Administrator Gregory B. Murray said during a county commissioners meeting Tuesday that the school is spending $2 million on the new building. The institute will lease about 93,000 square feet of land at the airport for about $25,000 a year, Murray said.

The Washington County Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday night to award contracts for the construction of a new Bester Elementary School to firms that were included in a bid package in which the school system requested nonprevailing wages. Work on the new school could begin within a month, once a building permit is secured, Project Manager Traci Coldsmith said after the board meeting. A fence will be erected around the construction site behind the existing Bester Elementary in Hagerstown's South End. The total cost for this part of the project is $18,332,853, which is $2,366,556 less than the package of bids with prevailing wages, which was $20,699,409, according to presentation documents.

The West Virginia Department of Transportation is in the process of a bridge resurfacing project on southbound I-81 just inside the West Virginia/Maryland line, according to Maryland State Police. Because of the lane closure, traffic is heavily congested on southbound I-81 in Maryland, state police said.  State police suggest motorists traveling that route to expect heavy delays.  Maryland State Police ask motorists who can to find alternate routes of travel to avoid further traffic congestion.

Issues such as local measures to help protect the Chesapeake Bay, what kind of trees to plant in an urban setting or educational programs such as how to develop a rain garden might get closer consideration now that the Town of Boonsboro has established an Environmental Commission. Boonsboro Town Council members Tuesday night agreed to create the commission, which has been talked about for about three years, council member Sean Haardt said. Environmental issues have gotten close consideration over the years in Boonsboro, where a recycling task force helped pave the way for curbside recycling in town.

A new conceptual drawing of a proposed downtown Hagerstown multiuse sports and events center gives people a better understanding of how the stadium could look, though it is not the final drawing, the project manager said Monday. The conceptual drawing, by HKS Sports & Entertainment, shows a grassy berm along left field, where people could gather to watch the game; and the potential reuse of a Washington County administration building on Hood Street as one of the concessions areas, Project Manager Jill Estavillo said.

Workers are one step closer to finishing construction of a $12 million, environmentally friendly office building at Fountainhead Plaza in Hagerstown. Earlier this month, construction workers started to raise the side panels of the Fountainhead One Professional Offices building, a 55,000-square-foot project that is taking the spot of a demolished Martin's supermarket at 13200 Pennsylvania Ave. Developer Asad Ghattas said the offices should be finished by Dec. 1. Once the panels were up, he said, “the steel people will come in and put the deck on the roof.” Ghattas said the Martin's supermarket moved because there wasn't enough space at Fountainhead Plaza to install gas pumps.

The following courses will be offered at the Barr Construction Institute at Associated Builders and Contractors, 530 N. Locust St. in Hagerstown: CPR/AED and First Aid   Instructor: Doug Walker Wednesday, July 18, from 8 a.m. to noon. Registration deadline, July 11 American Safety and Health Institute card issued upon completion. Cost: ABC members, $65; nonmembers, $90. Class minimum, four; class limit, 20. Maryland Backflow Prevention Certification   Instructor: Jim Yacovissi Friday, July 27, to Sunday, July 29, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.   Registration deadline, July 20 Recertification, July 28 This is a state-approved certification course.

Demolition at the site of a planned Walgreens pharmacy store began last week near the intersection of Halfway Boulevard and Virginia Avenue in Halfway. A building permit, site plan and zoning certification for the 10,873-square-foot store with a single-lane drive-through pharmacy window were approved for the property at 17703 Virginia Ave. earlier this month, Washington County spokeswoman Sarah Lankford Sprecher confirmed in an email. The store, which will be the first in the Hagerstown area, is expected to open next spring, a Walgreens official said Friday.

Construction on a pedestrian underpass linking Shepherd University's East and West campuses began in April and was supposed to be completed before the start of the 2012-13 school year in August. Now, the latest date when students can begin walking through the underpass is mid-October, with completion of the overall project expected by the end of November, said Valerie Owens, director of university communications. The traffic detour around the underpass construction site on North Duke Street and West Campus Drive will open July 1, Owens said.

Construction of a new High's Dairy Store on Jefferson Boulevard near Smithsburg has begun, more than two years after Washington County approved a site plan. The plan is to build a 3,500-square-foot convenience store with gas pumps and 24 parking spaces, including one for handicapped drivers, planning records show. Wayne A. Newton of Messick & Associates, an engineering firm working on the project, said it usually takes three or four months to build a High's store. The approved site plan also shows a bank on the property east of the intersection of Md. 64 and Md. 66. However, Newton said there is no plan to build the bank now. It's not clear why it has taken more than two years for the High's project to get going.