Staff photos by Laura Norton
Southeastern Community College broke ground this morning on a new $22 million, 22,000 sq. ft. Transportation Technology STEM Building on the campus.
Dr. Chris English of SCC said the facility will support automotive systems and truck driver training programs, meeting a rapidly growing regional workforce need.
“That fact that we’ve been able to bring back automotive systems and add on our truck driver training program means that we’re meeting the demands of a skilled workforce,” said English. “Having this high-tech facility on campus gives us the advantage to bring additional training opportunities to this community that we haven’t had in years.”
Rep. Brenden Jones said it was a significant day for the college.
“It’s a full circle for me, having been a student here, served on the board here, and now being here for this expansion,” Jones said.
Plans for the transportation STEM lab building began in 2021 with conversations between Jones and English. They discussed the forthcoming space restrictions in SCC’s current facilities and the growing number of students looking to enter an automotive systems career. English said it was easy to see the concept for a new transportation and automotive technology facility because of his background as an auto mechanic and instructor for 10 years.
Funding for the project came from an N.C. Office of State Budget (OSBM) and Management State Capital Infrastructure Fund worth $14 million and an OSBM Regional Economic Development Reserve worth $8 million.
The new facility will feature two classrooms, a CDL lab, office and storage spaces, a breakroom, an automotive lab, a Dyno lab and a parking lot.
The CDL lab will come equipped with lifts to perform maintenance and inspections on SCC’s 18-wheeler trucks and become a diesel program space. The Dyno lab is an enclosed driving load simulator facility where vehicles are parked on a platform and tested without moving.
“In a Dyno lab like this, you can simulate road conditions and do driveability performance while it’s sitting still in the lab,” English said. “Dyno labs are used in a lot of performance shops when vehicle owners are tuning their cars. It’s really critical for us and our electric vehicle diagnostic training.”
The automotive lab will contain 10 vehicle lifts with eight of them being two-post lifts and two of them being drive-on lifts.
Barnhill Construction is the contractor for the new building, while McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture has designed the building. English said that funding for a five-acre driving pad is working its way through government committees, and it will provide enough space for truck driver training, BLET and public safety use.
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