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| Contractors eager for WRDA work |
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By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent
TREMONT, Ill. — With final WRDA approval only a presidential signature or a predicted congressional override of a presidential veto away, Tim Troyer, president of Midwest Foundation Corp., is hopeful his central Illinois marine construction and repair company can secure a share of the work contracts expected to be awarded after bids are accepted for construction of seven new locks on the Illinois and upper Mississippi rivers.
“We’re certainly excited about (WRDA passage),” said Troyer, whose company has performed bridge and lock rehab work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the past but has seen a steady drop-off since the Corps’ budget was gutted a few years ago. “There is a possibility for some real good things to come out of it.”
For companies such as Midwest Foundation and their competitors, those “good things” could include an infusion of much-needed work when Congress appropriates funding for WRDA and the Corps is authorized to accept bids. “We had been doing a lot of work for the Corps but those contracts have kind of dried up,” said Troyer.
“We’re optimistic that this will bring back some of the contracts and we can start working again. Our volume is down since we relied on that lock and dam work for a good portion of our business.”
Troyer said that since funding for the Corps was reduced, even routine lock and dam maintenance has often been neglected.
Asked if he thought Midwest Foundation would be able to bid successfully on WRDA-related contracts, Troyer replied, “I am confident that that is a reasonable expectation. But we don’t know anything for certain except that there will be a lot of work coming. We don’t know how they will be parceling out those contracts or which locks they’ll start (construction) with. I hear rumors but I don’t know what they amount to. There will be a lot of opportunities to bid on work.”
Companies like Troyer’s make up only a small portion of the total number of businesses and workers that stand to reap financial rewards from WRDA.
Organized labor has a major stake in WRDA passage with millions of man-hours expected to be distributed among the building trades.
Labor organizations joined forces with farm industry groups and waterways organizations to provide a major political push in WRDA passage. |
| 10/3/2007 |
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