GORHAM – Shaw Brothers Construction Inc. expects its new asphalt plant, under construction now in Gorham at a cost of more than $10 million, will be ready for production in the spring.

The new asphalt plant, which the company says will be equalling the largest in the state, went through a lengthy and controversial local approval process. It is going up at the company’s headquarters on Mosher Road in Gorham and adjacent to its Brickyard Quarry. Neighbors were outspoken in their opposition to the plans, citing noise, increased heavy truck traffic and environmental damage.

Jon Shaw, president and co-owner of the construction firm, said this week the plant features the latest environmental and production technology with built-in capability to recycle old pavement stripped from highways being rehabbed.

“We’re really excited about this,” Jon Shaw said this week.

The opening of the new facility would shutter the construction firm’s asphalt plant, Commercial Paving, at 1 Chubs Way in Scarborough. Shaw Brothers bought the Scarborough facility in 2007.

Shaw said the new plant would have capacity of producing 400 tons of “hot top” per hour. That compares with the Commercial Paving asphalt plant’s capacity to produce 120 tons per hour.

Danny Shaw, co-owner and treasurer, said the company would probably “mothball” the Scarborough plant, but the firm’s plans call for keeping it as a backup.

“We don’t plan on selling it,” Jon Shaw said.

Danny Shaw expected their new plant to be ready for production – “dropping mix” – by May 1.

“It’s going to be super quiet,” Danny Shaw said, “and clean.”

The Gorham Planning Board approved the Shaw Brothers Construction request for Brickyard Quarry and an asphalt plant on Mosher Road after a series of contentious public hearings that packed the Town Council’s chambers several years ago.

Shaw Brothers Construction had introduced the project to the town in the summer of 2006 and was granted approval in April 2008. Bricks previously had been manufactured at the industrial site for decades before Shaw Brothers bought the property.

The company’s initial plans had called for a $3 million portable asphalt plant at the Gorham site, which would eventually lead to a $10 million facility. During Gorham’s approval process for an asphalt plant, Shaw Brothers acquired the Commercial Paving plant. In 2009, the company began construction of its new, 48,500-square-foot headquarters and moved into the brick facility in late 2011.

David Galbraith, Gorham’s zoning administrator, said Tuesday he believed the company would return to the Planning Board seeking a couple of minor site changes.

“It’s always great when a Gorham business can expand,” Galbraith said. “It’s a great company.”

The construction firm, founded in 1977, builds highways, airports and installs utilities. Several years ago, it widened sections of the Maine Turnpike and built the Bernard P. Rines Bypass in Gorham.

Jon Shaw talked about its asphalt plant project by cell phone on Tuesday while driving around the state to observe work on their job sites. He said Shaw Brothers had about 200 full-time employees on its payroll and that number didn’t include some additional temporary workers.

He said the new plant would require three people to operate it. Shaw said the company in the past had sub-contracted out the actual paving, but has expanded with its own paving crew. He estimated 10 percent of the company’s present work force is involved in paving. He expects to double that number to 20 percent next year.

The company opened its multi-million-dollar new headquarters building on its 125-acre Mosher Road site in 2011 after relocating from Main Street in Gorham. Now, it’s turning its attention to constructing the asphalt plant, which is permitted to run 24 hours daily, seven days a week.

Danny Shaw said the asphalt plant would include four silos 65 feet in height, where final product will be stored; three liquid asphalt tanks holding 30,000 gallons each; a double drum that mixes material such as crushed stone, stone dust, sand, or recycled material with liquid and heats the mixture; and a bag house that captures dust.

The company’s welding shop has been busy fabricating steel for the project and some of the concrete has already has been poured. Danny Shaw said the first truckloads carrying components of the plant would begin arriving next month from Chattanooga, Tenn. Final loads are expected to arrive about Thanksgiving.

A solid block containing 250 yards of concrete has already been installed as a base for the silos. Jon Shaw hopes that concrete work will be completed by December.

“We’re ahead of where we thought we’d be,” Jon Shaw said.

Company officials say there is no asphalt plant bigger in Maine than the one they’re building.

“There’s a lot of work to put this together,” Jon Shaw said.

The plant has the capacity to produce 400 tons of asphalt per hour and the bag house is oversized, with a capacity to handle a plant producing 450 tons per hour.

The asphalt product sells for between $60 and $75 per ton, Jon Shaw said. The asphalt will be used for company projects, as well as sold to other contractors.

Natural gas will fuel the asphalt plant, which even has the capability of recycling old roofing shingles into new pavement. Jon Shaw said the plant can also produce a pavement recipe he called a “warm mix” that saves energy. In a warm mix, asphalt would be heated to a temperature between 25 and 50 degrees cooler than the standard 325 degrees, thus saving heat.

In the near future, Danny Shaw said, he doesn’t envision major, new highway construction jobs. He said existing infrastructure such as sewer and water mains, along with local roads, are aging and will require work.

The company expects its asphalt plant’s life span to be 50 years. The company has already bought most of the associated equipment like a new paver.

“We’re trying to build for tomorrow,” Danny Shaw said.

Danny Shaw, co-owner of Shaw Brothers Construction Inc., oversees progress of work this week on a $10 million asphalt plant the company is building on Mosher Road in Gorham.Danny Shaw views a new truck that a Shaw Brothers Construction shop crew is outfitting for use in connection with paving.