Watch NBC4 drone footage above to see progress on the Intel construction site as of March 2023.

NEW ALBANY, Ohio (WCMH) — Construction at the site of the future Intel semiconductor fabrication — or “fab” — plant in New Albany is closing in on its ninth month. 

Vertical progress on what will eventually be called Ohio One has yet to begin, but Bechtel — the general contractor for the first phase of construction — moved onto the site earlier in March after Gilbane finished site enablement work, according to Intel spokesperson Linda Qian. 

Bechtel’s initial work has included “building access roads and infrastructure, including underground piping, around the site to support the construction workers who will be working on the project,” Qian said.

That project includes “a total of 2.5 million square feet of facility, including 600,000 square feet of cleanrooms,” according to a November news release from Bechtel.

On a windy Wednesday afternoon, hums of mechanical movement echoed across the site’s chain link fence, as a constant stream of trucks hauling dirt and materials traveled along Mink Street. Two towering red cranes dotted the skyline. 

In January, one year after the $20 billion project announcement, Intel Ohio General Manager Jim Evers wrote in a column that construction crews had collectively clocked “over 150,000 hours to prepare the land for Ohio’s first fabs.” Those crews had also moved hundreds of thousands of tons of rock and lime, Evers wrote.

To mark its one-year milestone, Intel also made the plant-to-be’s “Ohio One” name public.

As of March, the construction timeline remains the same. It takes three to five years to build a fab, Qian said, meaning Ohio One won’t be online before 2025, at the earliest.