ALBANY, NY — Governor Kathy Hochul announces that the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) and the Office of General Services (OGS) have broken ground on a $150.5 million project to build a consolidated materials testing facility for NYSDOT at the W. Averell Harriman State Office Building Campus in Albany, New York. This Central Testing Laboratory will replace NYSDOT’s outdated and undersized, 60-plus-year-old facilities with an expanded complex that will increase the department's ability to sustainably test and certify that the products and materials used on New York’s roads and bridges are safe and can withstand the challenges of the 21st century. The new laboratory is estimated to be complete in fall 2029.
“The baseline of a safe transportation system begins and ends with the work that is performed every day in our Central Laboratory, and breaking ground on this new facility is a critical step in ensuring the safety of our roads and bridges for generations to come," Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez said.
NYSDOT’s Central Testing Laboratory performs approximately 100,000 tests each year, evaluating the chemical, physical, and performance properties of the thousands of materials used on transportation projects in New York State. An accredited central state laboratory is required by the Federal Highway Administration and is a cornerstone of NYSDOT’s construction and materials quality assurance program. The laboratory tests ensure that all materials used meet state and federal quality and performance standards.
The current laboratory testing facilities are spread across two outdated buildings, the traffic signal laboratory and the drillers' operation center. The new laboratory will consolidate all facilities into one location, optimizing an innovative layout to expand and enhance critical activities, accommodate new testing equipment, and evaluate materials used on roads and bridges across the state. This new space will test high quality materials including asphalt and concrete performance mixes to ensure they provide the resiliency, sustainability, and traction characteristics to make roadways safer, especially during inclement weather. The Central Testing Lab establishes requirements for new equipment and testing methods to ensure that low-carbon materials meet stringent technical and performance standards, creating methodologies to identify, verify, and integrate low-carbon materials into state infrastructure projects.
The new 114,500-square-foot facility has been designed to meet New York State’s sustainability standards by prioritizing energy efficiency. It will operate fully on electric power, using geothermal energy to heat and cool the building. The grounds outside will also include electric vehicle charging stations for fleet vehicles.
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Building highlights will include:
- Advanced testing equipment for materials and traffic signal laboratories, featuring full electric power that utilizes a geothermal heating and cooling system with wellfields extending 800 feet below the surface. This sustainable system will harness the earth's natural temperature to provide reliable, efficient temperature control in the new building.
- A steel-framed building with ethylene propylene diene monomer roofing on a concrete mat slab.
- 17 core laboratories; a high-bay strength lab for a 1-million-pound-rated, custom testing frame; and a modern training area with retractable walls.
- Garage space with three drive-through double bays for holding large vehicles with trailers; forklift charging; an overhead crane; an environmental chamber and traffic signal testing wall with space for staging; and office and warehouse spaces.
