It might just be a bridge to some people, but to others it means the chance to create several
PA construction jobs.
Gov. Edward G. Rendell recently announced that $10 million is being invested to rehabilitate and preserve the Route 51 Beaver-Rochester Bridge in
Beaver County. This is the first project in the region that is being funded by the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
"We are here today because the federal Recovery Act is helping us restore our aging infrastructure and - just as importantly - putting Pennsylvanians to work," Rendell said in a press release. "This project simply would not have happened if stimulus funds were not available. As a bonus, 30 to 40 people will be working because of this bridge project.
"Right now, Beaver County needs this economic stimulus to get
people to work and to rebuild its infrastructure in order to attract new residents and businesses," he continued. "Stories like this one are playing out across the state as more than $1 billion in federal transportation stimulus funds is supplementing the $1.8 billion in work Pennsylvania had already planned for this year."
Pennsylvania companies led by
Mascaro Construction of Pittsburgh are rebuilding the bridge, including subcontractors
Avalotis of Verona, Allegheny County; Strongstown B & K of Strongstown, Indiana County; and Callahan Paving Products of Horsham, Montgomery County.
The bridge, which spans the Beaver River between Beaver and Rochester, carries between 10,000 and 15,000 vehicles per day. The repair project includes
preservation activities, full painting, expansion dam and rocker bearing replacements and steel and concrete repairs.
The Route 51 Beaver-Rochester Bridge is one of seven projects in the state's
Department of Transportation three-county District 11 region being funded by ARRA. Statewide, Pennsylvania is receiving more than $1 billion for highway and bridge projects from the ARRA.
Pennsylvania will invest close to $3 billion for highway and bridge work, the most ever produced in a single year for that type of work in the state. Of that money, $643 million is being invested in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Labels: PA construction jobs
The
State of Ohio will be losing more than 2,000
jobs in the near future.
According to an article by
The Columbus Dispatch, seven companies that do business within the state have filed layoff notices. The companies will eliminate a total of 2,358 positions at plants in more than a dozen locations throughout the state by the middle of summer.
- Severstal Wheeling Inc. announced the biggest cut, as it plans to layoff more than 916 workers at plants in Steubenville, Mingo Junction, Yorkville and Martins Ferry.
- Colfor Manufacturing will layoff about 589 workers at plants in Salem, Minerva and Malvern.
- Sencorp will cut 300 positions in Cincinnati.
- Johnson Controls will eliminate 205 positions in Greenfield.
- Faurecia Exhaust Systems will cut 168 jobs in Troy.
- Shiloh Industries is planning to get rid of 111 jobs in Valley City.
- ArcelorMittal will see the loss of 69 jobs in Warren.
Not surprisingly, all of these companies serve the auto industry, which has been faced with
mounting trouble as of late.
Concerns among the steel industry along the West Virginia border, where most of Severstal's losses will take place, are nothing new. At one point, Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel, the company's predecessor, had 15,000 employees in the county. However, there are currently only 2,000 employees and many of them will soon lose their jobs.
In March, Ohio had an unemployment rate of 9.7 percent, the highest since 1984. There are now 577,500 unemployed workers in Ohio, an increase of almost 200,000 from last year.
On the up side,
Wildfire Motors in Steubenville currently employs 75 workers and plans to add 100 more positions. The difference - the company produces electric vehicles.
Labels: Jobs
