Just as the final touches are being put on the new Lemont Police Department facility, work has begun on another area project.

The addition of about 3,000 square feet of garage and office space to the Lemont Township Highway Department service garage on Archer Avenue, located next to the police department, will ease the current tight quarters.

“We have to get more space,” said Highway Department Garage Foreman John Heeg. “We’re overcrowded right now.”

The expansion to the building will create room for new service bays, new offices for the Lemont

Township Highway Department commissioner and superintendent, and a conference room. The $800,000 addition also will provide more storage.

Construction has already started, and highway department officials hope to see the project completed by late October.

It’s been more than 20 years since the 4,000 square foot garage has gotten an update, said Lemont Township Supervisor Steve Rosendahl.

“With the new police department and the development going on there, we needed a facelift and an extreme home makeover to get us up to speed and to give us the facility we need to continue the great services we provide,” he said.

Though the township has experienced ample growth in the last several years, Rosendahl said the addition’s necessity is more a matter of building upkeep.

“There are more roads than there were 20 years ago but (the expansion project) is more a combination of growth, much needed maintenance and having a facility that will carry us forward,” he said.