The folks who run the patched-up I-95 bridge that carries
60,000 cars, trucks, and buses a day above the Delaware River at Scudder Falls
for free had figured on paying up to $325 million to replace the 58-year-old,
four-lane connection, plus aging exits in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with a
six-lane toll bridge, stronger supports, and gentler curves by 2021.
Dozens of builders - including general contractors such
as Driscoll Construction Corp., Tutor Perini Corp.,
and China Construction of America - have scrutinized the 1,800
items in Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission's plan,
complete with hiring goals for "disadvantaged" contractors and
protections for short-nosed sturgeon, brown bats, and lamp mussels living under
the span.
But when bids were opened Jan. 11, only one company, Trumbull
Corp. of Pittsburgh, offered to build the 4.4-mile project. Trumbull's
bid was $396 million, more than 20 percent above the limit the commission had
used to calculate the new tolls that will pay for it.
Where will the extra millions come from?
"It's a really, really large bid," Joe
Resta, the commission's executive director, said of Trumbull's offer.
"We're still evaluating."
By the commission's Jan. 30 meeting at its New Hope
offices, Resta hopes to be able to recommend "either to plow ahead"
and do the job with Trumbull - finding the extra dollars somewhere -
"or potentially re-bid."
Big changes would be difficult, he told me. It took 10 years to get the bridge
plan past federal highway officials, and six public hearings to adopt the
tolls.
Starting in 2019, the no-tollbooth system would clip
drivers either $1.25 (E-ZPass) or $2.60 (Big Brother would record pass-less
drivers' tags and bill them by mail). Regular commuters would get a discount.
Truck tolls would range from $7 to $33. Only southbound drivers would pay.
Going to New Jersey would be free.
Why didn't more contractors bid? Resta speculated: The
bridge is more complex, and 10 times the price of any past project at the
commission's 20 crossings from Trenton to New York state. He also cited
competition: Builders are busy. Pennsylvania and New Jersey approved highway
finance plans for other projects last year. The Trump-Pence presidential
campaign also promised new infrastructure.
Another major feature makes the Scudder Falls project
novel: After soliciting contractors in September, the bridge commission added
in November a requirement that builders agree to a "project labor
agreement" with unions in the Philadelphia- and Trenton-area building-trades
councils that would set working conditions and dispute-resolution arrangements.
It was the first time the commission has required a PLA,
and it's a deal-breaker for firms accustomed to using their own nonunion
workers, according to David Maugle, executive vice president
at J.D. Eckman Inc., a 65-year-old Chester County-based
general contractor.
"The effect of the project labor agreement would
require J.D. Eckman, and its subcontractors, to use the local unions' hiring
halls for all project labor. This would prohibit the use of our own trained and
skilled workforce," making it tough to estimate time and cost, Maugle told
me.
The commission's Resta, who was project executive for the $800 million
Pennsylvania Convention Center extension in the mid-2000s under a project labor
agreement, said PLAs leave room for some nonunion labor. But "PLAs tend to
be exclusionary," and "merit shops" that use nonunion workers
tend not to bid on PLA jobs, Joseph Perpiglia, president of
the Associated Builders and Contractors of Eastern Pennsylvania,
told me.
The bridge commission isn't the only road authority that
has lately turned to PLAs. Under Democratic Gov. Wolf, PennDot
is asking contractors to enter a PLA to repave Markley Street in Norristown
from Main to Elm, after paving nearby streets without such a deal.
"Project labor agreements can be a valuable tool
[to] improve efficiency and ensure that projects are completed on time and
under budget," Wolf spokesman J.J. Abbott told me.
Wolf hopes PennDot PLAs can help avoid "the many
issues experienced with SCI Phoenix," the $400 million state prison in
Skippack, Abbott said. The prison has no project labor
agreement. More than a year after its planned 2015
opening, state project rep Hill International and general contractor
Walsh Heery Joint Venture were still squabbling over hundreds
of inspections, letters obtained under the state Right to Know law show.
PLA projects, such as Resta's Convention Center
construction or work at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions
refinery, should ensure "a consistent and available workforce," clear
out labor and contractor disputes quickly, and keep work "on schedule and
on budget," says Anthony Wigglesworth, head of the Philadelphia
Area Labor Management Committee, which oversees PLAs.
Source: Philly.com
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