03/23/2009
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Staff photo by Andy Molloyfrom the Kennebec Journal
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All of today's:
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from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
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Kennebec County Superior Court
POLICE
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All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
Staff Writer
Maine's first federal stimulus-funded project will put $31.5 million worth of pavement, pavers, truck drivers, equipment operators, diesel fuel, and wooden stakes into action this spring and summer, repaving the northbound lanes of Interstate 295 from Topsham to Gardiner.
Pike Industries bid $31.5 million bid for the job.
But many others -- subcontractors, fuel companies, saw mills, hotels, convenience stores, truck drivers, bridge workers and others -- are likely to feel some financial effect from the major road project.
Jonathan Olson, regional manager for Pike Industries, said the New Hampshire-based company with 450 employees in Maine will have 250 workers on the job at various times, plus subcontractors and independent truck drivers.
He said Pike will fill about 37 new jobs for the project.
Olson said the project "starts full bore April 6." But it's already putting people to work in central Maine.
Like Bruce Sevigny, who is cutting pieces of wood at his West Gardiner saw mill, for stakes to be used as markers along the Interstate.
And Steven McGee Construction, also based in West Gardiner, which is currently preparing a large temporary gravel pad to serve as a work-site for the project. The Weeks Road site in Richmond is in a field just off the northbound lane of I-295, between Beedle Road and the Gardiner-Richmond line. The site will provide storage for materials and also serve as home to a portable asphalt plant to be used in the repaving.
The property is owned by McGee, as is a parcel across the interstate where a similar work-site was established last summer when the southbound lanes of I-295 were repaved.
McGee crews plowed snow from the field, stripped off loam and are placing gravel to build a temporary pad where the portable paving plant will be set up for the project.
Geoff Cobb, project manager for McGee, said the work taking place now comes at a traditionally slow time of year in construction. This time of year is slow due, in large part, to the season. Summer construction season hasn't started yet.
Cobb said the project allowed McGee to bring as many as 16 people back to work.
"This is a tough time of year for construction, so to have something like this to carry you through is a big help, a big boost," Cobb said. "It let us bring back some people, which was huge. In this economy, you can't not take work."
Pittsfield-based Cianbro is the subcontractor working on five bridges on the I-295 northbound project. The firm did similar work on the southbound lanes last year.
Cianbro's work is for $1 million of the overall project, according to company President Andi Vigue.
"We're working for Pike; we have a pretty small piece of the project," Vigue said. "We'll go from bridge to bridge to bridge."
Vigue said Cianbro will have a crew of between six and 12 workers on the project.
"I think any work that creates jobs stimulates the economy, no matter where the money is coming from," Vigue said. "When people get a paycheck, they spend it."
The project, according to a statement from Gov. John Baldacci, represents the first use of funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in Maine.
Baldacci said estimates from the Federal Highway Administration and the state's experience rehabilitating the southbound I-295 lanes last year indicate some 840 jobs could be created, directly and indirectly, by the project. Last year, he said, roughly 95 percent of workers on the job were Maine residents.
"This project will put Mainers back to work," Baldacci said. "And we all know that a good job is the best social program. The economic recovery package is already starting to put people back to work here in Maine and around the country."
Pike's Olson said a rule of thumb in the construction industry is every $1 spent on construction has a $6 effect on the economy, as supplies are bought and workers spend money in local hotels, restaurants, and stores.
"Using that ratio, this project's impact could be $180 million to $200 million overall," Olson said. "All our workers on this job, who live in Maine, get paid. We buy most of our supplies locally. Our diesel comes through local dealers. We'll hire a bunch -- 75 to 120 -- of independent truck drivers, and they'll buy fuel, tires, they'll need repairs, and the drivers' pay gets spent in local stores, on the necessities of life.
"Some of our guys travel, so they'll be using local hotels, eating in local restaurants. We're looking forward to continuing to stimulate the Maine economy. The more jobs we can add, the better."
Only one other firm bid on the job, Connecticut-based Lane Construction, which has Maine offices in Bangor. That firm, according to DOT documents, bid $34.3 million.
Keith Edwards -- 621-5647
kedwards@centralmaine.com
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