WOODSFIELD — The Monroe County Transportation Improvement District board held its first official meeting last week, discussing potential future projects including the possibility of constructing a joint entity fueling station in the county.

The county opted to join the TID, a program offered through the Ohio Department of Transportation, late last year. The program offers competitive funding opportunities for infrastructure improvements to streets, highways, parking facilities, freight rail tracks, bridges, tunnels and more. In 2020, the program awarded $4.5 million to district projects statewide.

Amy Zwick, county engineer and board member of the TID, said the board held its first meeting Tuesday to begin project assessments. One effort the board discussed is the possibility of constructing a multi-type fueling station for the county — a project that may be eligible to receive funding through the TID program.

“It would be a fueling station with multiple types of fuel for county, township, village, different entities, to use,” she said. “It would also have a power backup so if there was a major event, storm or power outage, we would still be able to operate and function during those emergencies.”

Zwick said such a fueling station would offer a variety of benefits for the county. It could lead to cost savings on fuel that is purchased in bulk and allow the county to have a facility with a backup power station.

“A lot of entities pay for fuel at the gas station, so they pay that price instead of a bulk fuel price. So ultimately there would be some cost savings for those who participated in this,” she said.

At this point, the fueling station is just a concept, Zwick said. The board plans to reach out to various entities in the county to obtain further information and discover what each entity’s fuel consumption is in order to see how large the facility would need to be. Zwick said members then will be able to determine an estimated project cost.

A potential location for the fueling station would be on Moore Ridge Road near the engineer’s office in Woodsfield.

The board will further discuss the project and others that may be eligible for TID funding at its next meeting. That session is scheduled for 9 a.m. April 20 at the engineer’s office.