CDOT operated the Eckley rest area on U.S. 34 in Yuma County from 1965 to 2006, closing it as a cost-savings measure. The property will be put up for sale with four other northeast Colorado surplus CDOT sites, with proceeds used to help finance a consolidated maintenance facility.

Psssst, hey buddy, wanna buy a slightly used CDOT rest area?

It’s got a building with men’s and women’s restrooms, a storage shed, a concrete pad for your mobile home, electrical and water well hook-ups and a septic system. We’ll even throw in four dusk-to-dawn lights.

If you want to look it over, head out to Eckley, in Yuma County, about 22 miles east of the Nebraska line on U.S. 34.

The 8.6-acre parcel, stuck in the northeast corner of a center-pivot irrigated crop circle, had been used as a state highway rest area for 41 years before it was closed as a cost-saving measure in 2006.

You say you want a package deal? Well, CDOT’s Region 4 is also offering for sale four shuttered maintenance facilities, three of them in Weld County and the other in Fort Collins.

Click on any of the five blue balloons on the Google Maps display below to see the properties CDOT is putting up for sale. Zoom in to see their locations.

View CDOT Region 4 Surplus Property Sale in a larger map

The plan is to use the proceeds from the sales to help develop a consolidated maintenance facility elsewhere in Region 4, which covers northeast Colorado.

CDOT will determine the fair market value of the parcels and first offer them to the cities, towns or counties. If they don’t want them, they will be offered to the public.

Here is the skinny on the other sites:

• The Fort Collins location is two adjoining parcels at 610 Vine Drive on the north side of town comprising nearly 3.5 acres. CDOT acquired one in 1958 and the other in 1974 and ran a maintenance facility out of two buildings there. In 2002, determining that it had outlived its usefulness, CDOT moved into a joint facility with the city several blocks away. For several years, it rented the Vine Street buildings.

But last year, the lessee moved out.

• A 21,000-square-foot parcel at 253 E. 2nd St. in Ault, Weld County. There is a 2,016-square-foot steel building on the site. It is several blocks northeast of the intersection of U.S. 85 and CO 14 in Ault. The state acquired it in 1956. CDOT shut it down in 1992 when it opened a new maintenance facility in Pierce, about four miles north on U.S. 85.

• A 26,250-square-foot parcel at 589 Adams Ave. in Nunn, Weld County, just off U.S. 85. The state bought it in 1948 and operated a highway maintenance facility from a 1,680-square-foot steel building there until 1992. It was shut down at the same time as the one in Ault when the functions were consolidated into the new facility in Pierce.

• A 39,433-square-foot parcel in Stoneham, Weld County, on CO 14 and CO 71. The state bought it on 1964 and used a 2,016-square-foot steel building there as a maintenance site until 1989, when it consolidated those functions into a new facility in New Raymer, 10 miles west.

CDOT Chief Engineer Pam Hutton and Region 4 Transportation Director Bob Garcia say the properties are no longer needed for any transportation function. None of the old maintenance sites actually sits on a state highway, and the lad on which the Eckley rest area sits won’t be needed for any future widening of U.S. 34.

If you’re interested in any of this real estate, you can reach Region 4’s office at 970-350-2103.