The Park County Landfill in Cody has room for a lot more trash and other discarded items from area residents thanks to a recently completed expansion project. 

Work on a new cell at the landfill south of Cody was substantially completed in December, and in early March commissioners released retainage funds on behalf of Nicholson Dirt Contracting of Cody.

The nearly $2 million project came in right about at budget, as County Engineer Brian Edwards said testing and survey work, what couldn't be done in-house, just about meets the budgeted amount along with the $1,049,274 million contract by Nicholson, which handled excavation, and $841,714 to Patriot Environmental Services of Meeker, Oklahoma, which prepared the lining and related geosynthetic work for the new cell.

A landfill liner generally includes a layer of compacted clay, overlaid by a high-density polyethylene geomembrane.

"Nicholson did an outstanding job on the project, Patriot same thing," Edwards said, adding a shoutout to Morrison Maierle for engineering work. "All in all everything went great."

He said the new cell should last 25-plus years. 

Commissioner Lloyd Thiel said it was a smart decision by the commissioners years before to hire a county engineer with landfill experience, as Edwards brought to the job.

"Longer than you or I will have to worry about," Edwards said to Thiel with a laugh.