Hobart Debuts Compressed Natural Gas Projects

(photo courtesy South Shore Clean Cities)

The city of Hobart has unveiled the results of more than $2 million in investment in its vehicle fleet. The city has built a new vehicle maintenance garage and installed compressed natural gas fueling pumps at its public works facility.

The $1.45 million garage more the doubles the previous facility and will accommodate the city’s compressed natural gas vehicle fleet. The city says the facility will allow employees to work on the vehicles in-house. 

The fueling pumps, which cost $600,000, will reduce travel time for the fleet, the city says. Previously the city’s public works crews had to drive to Gary or Hammond to fuel the vehicles.

"Mayor (Brian) Snedecor pledged years ago to make Hobart a trendsetter in Regional green efforts and in a very short period of time, has clearly accomplished that goal," said Ryan Lisek, project manager for South Shore Clean Cities, which assisted in acquiring the funding for the projects. "We are proud of the longstanding partnership with our member The City of Hobart and all that we have accomplished together."

The projects were largely funded by a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant from the Federal Highway Administration. The grant was administered by the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission.