The state-of-the art Department of Public Health laboratory is a three-story, 100,000-square-foot-building, rated for both Bio-Safety Level 2 and Level 3 work, which allows for testing on such potentially virulent agents as tuberculosis and anthrax.
Construction on the West Street site began in 2010 after the State Bond Commission in April approved funding.
The design of the building includes sophisticated safety and security features, such as multiple air-handling systems and biocontainment areas. The property is accessed through a gated entrance and there is 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week security.
Site excavation work was done with painstaking care after additional dinosaur tracks, similar to, and even older than those at the nearby state park, were found. Some of those fossils are permanently exhibited on the property.
