August 21, 2006 - As summer moves into fall, farms and fields will be filled with activity as the harvest season commences. However, the Decatur County Commissioners heard of a different kind of work at their Monday meeting.

Global Performance, a construction firm out of Greeneville, S.C., announced the detailed schedule for developing and constructing Honda’s new plant north of Greensburg. Global will be responsible for; site management, site safety, schedule management, cost, purchasing, site and facility construction, facility equipment suppliers and security.

“We’re going to do as much as we can to minimize the impact on the community but there is going to be increased traffic and road construction,” Bill Bryant, Global Performance’s project manager for the site, said.

Honda P2M-F, as the project is officially known, will commence work sometime in mid-to-late September. Bryant said the timing may not be great but it will have to work.

“It may not be an ideal time to start but it’s better than November or December. We’ve a got a little good weather left and we need to get as much done as possible,” Bryant said.

Bryant and his colleague, Tom Estes, coordinator of third party activity, gave the Commissioners a detailed schedule of the site plans for the next few years. In Fall of 2006, site work will begin, with the foundation work beginning in early 2007. When the construction of the building is nearing completion, utilities will be connected sometime in the Spring of 2008 with the plant open for production in the Fall of that year.

A number of other things will be happening around the site as well. A second building is slated for construction. Honda will have a consolidation center for all of its incoming parts, a facility that is usually off-site at other Honda operations around the country, Bryant noted. He added, that building is run by a different company and will bring more additional jobs to Honda’s projected 2,000.

In addition, the rail lines that cut through the Honda property will be updated. Estes noted, rail traffic stopped on Monday so work could begin.

“Duke Energy has been blowing through the utility work. They’ve been going up and down Vandalia Road,” Estes noted. “They have their lines right along the rail so they needed to relocate them before we can start grading and moving dirt for the rail work.”

Estes added, Honda had secured a 100-foot easement all the way around the 1,700-acre property to help maintain a buffer between its work and the surrounding community.

Bryant added, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) will continue working on U.S. Highway 421 until mid-September, which will then give them room to begin their work. He noted, 421 north of the I-74 interchange will be done April of 2008 and the south portion will not be done until July 2008. The new I-74 interchange should be completed by July 2008 while the new truck bridge from the interstate directly into Honda should be done around April 2008. Bryant also noted, the relocation of County Road 300 South, the main road to Adams from 421 that cuts through the Honda site, should be finished by September of 2007.

“What’s happened, in the last two months, is we are trying to decide what’s best for all the road work. We and INDOT worked with the city and county to have the least impact to land owners,” Bryant said. “At this point in the game, this is the latest and greatest information.”

As soon as the road work is done, the dirt will start moving just east of Adams. Bryant noted, he has received some concern about existing corn and soy beans that are currently growing. While farmer’s in the area were paid for the price of the lost crops, Bryant noted, they considered trying to harvest but the timing is not right, at least not for the corn.

“The corn is going to just be knocked over because we just can’t wait that long. We’ve been talking to local farmers about harvesting the soy beans. Hopefully we can work that out next week, but we only have a few months of good weather to get the dirt moving so we have to be aggressive,” Bryant said.

Once the corn and beans are out of they way and the dirt gets rolling, Bryant expects to use a number of employees. He feels by 2008, the site will have a peak employment of about 2,500 people and perhaps have about 10,000 badged employees throughout the life of the project. Bryant noted all workers on the site will have to undergo safety training and pass a drug test before being badged and admitted to the site. The process includes all private contractors and any emergency responders as well, he noted.

While they plan to hire people, Bryant added he and his company will rely on local businesses for the things they need. For Global, it is their inclination to contract people from the area before looking elsewhere.

“That’s not just construction. That goes for everything from office furniture to office equipment, the things you need for everyday work,” Bryant said. “There’s a lot of need and a lot of opportunity for local businesses with us here.”

Pleased with the progress, the Commissioners could only wait to see how things developed, although they remarked they were excited to see how the facility will grow. Bryant and Estes agreed.

“It’s going to be fun. This part of the project can be tough to get all the things co-ordinated but once we get moving, it will be exciting,” Bryant said.