LIMA - An Ohio Department of Transportation contractor has begun cleaning up construction debris dumped for several decades near an I-75 interchange south of here, the department has announced.

Norman Redick, deputy director of ODOT's district office in Lima, said department officials recently became aware of the dump site at I-75 and Breese Road in Allen County's Shawnee Township that was used from the late 1950s until the mid 1970s.

“Chunks of concrete, steel, and anything used in construction at that time was placed there,” Mr. Redick said in a statement. “It's simply a dump site that we're cleaning up because it's the responsible and right thing to do.”

While most of the material is considered harmless, he said, some items, such as old paint cans, could pose a pollution hazard. The half-acre dump site was part of a roughly 20-acre state-owned tract near the interchange.

ODOT began the cleanup on its own “to rid the area of any environmental risk that might be there and to get the property into a state where it could be used for other purposes,” Mr. Redick said.

Pro-Terra Environmental Contracting Co. of Columbus is clearing the site and hauling the debris to approved solid-waste disposal facilities.

First Published September 22, 2003, 10:09 a.m.