Laborers excited for I-5 HOV project in Fife

Posted by Jill Russell on August 14, 2009 at 2:31 pm

By Jill Russell

Project laborers Charles Graham (left) and Michael Joseph (center) talk to Field Representative Brian Belarde, at the I-5 HOV construction project groundbreaking ceremony on Aug. 14 in Fife.

Rich McKinney and Michael Joseph will wake up each morning and go to work, unaware of what their day might entail. They don’t even know how long their jobs will be around, but they are just happy to have the opportunity.
“I’m excited, my family’s excited, my wife’s excited,” said McKinney. “Hopefully things will start turning around. You get a little emotional when you talk about it.”
“I got bills to pay,” Joseph said.
The men are part of a labor crew that will widen I-5 for HOV lanes in each direction between the Port of Tacoma Road and the King/Pierce County line. The project will also include widening six bridges crossing Wapato Creek and Hylebos Creek. The lanes are scheduled to be open to traffic in late 2011.
The total estimated cost of the project is $61.4 million. Funding for this project comes from multiple sources, including approximately $35.5 million ARRA stimulus, the 2003 and 2005 gas tax packages, and local partners. The project will support an estimated 130 jobs.
53-year-old Joseph has been a member of the Laborers Local 252, the union supplying the laborers for the project, since 1975. McKinney, 40, has been a member for just ten years. Both men agree that the construction industry has been hard hit by the weak economy.
    “It’s been rough for everybody,” said Joseph. “There are a lot of guys sitting at home with kids and families and they can’t pay the bills.”

READ THE FULL STORY ON AUG. 27 IN THE FIFE FREE PRESS AND THE MILTON EDGEWOOD SIGNAL.