Ground broken on National Guard post

RALEIGH — Work began this morning on a $57 million new National Guard/emergency nerve center in West Raleigh, one of the most visible North Carolina projects funded by the federal stimulus package.

Gov. Beverly Perdue and Congressman David Price were among those who braved a light rain to to shovel the first dirt on the high tech project that will serve as headquarters for not only National Guard operations, but will serve as the center for the state’s response to hurricanes, tornados and other natural catastrophes.

The governor called it "a state of the art facility," Rob Christensen reports.

The project is being funded largely from the stimulus package passed by Congress earlier this year that is designed to help jump start the economy. About $41 million of the cost comes from the stimulus legislation.

Price, a key House budget chairman who help obtain the money, said the project would result in the creation of 4,000 jobs.

More after the jump.

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That is the figure offered by O'Brien/Atkins, the Research Triangle Park architectural firm that designed the 237,000 square foot building. The center is being built near Blue Ridge Road, where the state already has a series of office buildings and other facilities.

Julie McLaurin, an O'Brien/Atkins executive, said the employment figure is based on standard construction industry calculations for a project that size and includes not only people who will work on the site during some phase of the project, but people involved in providing materials for the building.

The project is expected to take 18 to 24 months to complete.

Besides being the headquarters for 12,000-member National Guard, the building will house the Division of Emergency Management, a Highway Patrol Communications Center, a state Department of Transportation facility that follows traffic congestion across the state and the state Turnpike Authority.

Major General William Ingram, the Adjutant General of the National Guard, said the project was top national priority of the National Guard, the 1960’s era facility was too small and out of date. He said the stimulus package moved up the construction of the project by two to three years.