| OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program |
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| Web Brief (Sep 07) |
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Diverse workforce sets high standard on I-5 bridges
The task was one of the largest and most significant in the bridge program: repair two bridges and replace 10 others along Interstate 5 between Roseburg and Eugene in only two years.
Completing those bridges on Bundle A02, I-5: Clarks Branch to Tunnel Mill Race, involved laying more than 8,000 tons of aggregate base and bridge pilings, erecting 200 precast girders, installing 800 tons of reinforcing steel, and paving roadways with more than 12,400 tons of asphalt. CH2M HILL, the design-build contractor for the project, poured more than 6,400 cubic yards of concrete—that’s a proverbial football field, a full yard deep.
But perhaps more impressively, as the bridges went up, so did the number of new workers joining Oregon’s construction labor pool: In nearly two years of construction and 132,644 hours worked, the contractor and subcontractors exceeded the project’s apprenticeship goal of 5 percent, reaching a total of 6.3 percent apprenticeship representation.
“With construction in the northwest at an all-time high, trained craft labor is getting harder and harder to find,” said Doug Johnson, diversity and economics manager for CH2M HILL. “To attract new workers, CH2M HILL worked on workforce participation for this project from the bottom up, starting with our major subcontractors and asking what apprenticeship opportunities they could provide”
Beginning in July 2005, when ODOT first implemented its Workforce Development Plan through the OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program, the agency began to institute a percentage requirement for the participation of apprentices. Though this requirement is race and gender neutral, ODOT encourages contractors to hire women and minorities and thereby open well-paying construction jobs to a variety of workers representative of the population.
On Bundle A02, CH2M HILL and its subcontractors not only met but exceeded this apprenticeship contractual requirement, and turned in excellent diversity results as well. Of the total hours that apprentices worked, women apprentices worked almost nine percent and minority group apprentices—African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Asian-Pacific Americans and Subcontinent Asian Americans—worked nearly 18 percent.
“We attended job fairs and worked with a number of local employment agencies and community institutions to understand the hurdles involved,” Johnson said. “That made it possible to design strong on-the-job and training programs that all of our team members could support.”
One of the subcontractors contributing to the successful project was Cascade Bridge LLC. Founded in 2001, the firm employs approximately 50 people on heavy highway construction projects in Washington and Oregon. Its crew on Bundle A02 included Dejuan Chesterfield, an apprentice carpenter who has nearly attained journey-level status.
“This was an exciting, adventurous job, working in Roseburg, a new part of the state for me,” said Chesterfield. “You feel a sense of accomplishment building bridges. When it was done, I brought my family down to see it, the way I always do.”
“I’ve been doing this work for many years, and everybody on this project was great,” said Mike Latimer, superintendent for Cascade Bridge. “No matter where people come from, once we get to work, they’re just another American doing their job.”
The numbers achieved on Bundle A02 show that a diverse workforce is available to be trained and hired, thus laying a foundation for expanding ODOT’s Workforce Development Plan.
“We are going to use these positive results as a benchmark for which other projects can aim,” said Michael Cobb, ODOT Office of Civil Rights manager.
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