Associations - Page 3

The Grand MetroLink Station in Midtown St. Louis is “an island.”  It is disconnected from exciting new developments while transit riders, other pedestrians, and bicyclists have limited options for mobility around the area.  If momentum in innovative development is to be advanced in the surrounding area, the Grand MetroLink Station must offer greater connectivity.  That’s the assessment of the Urban Land Institute St. Louis (ULI STL) which collaborated with Citizens for Modern Transit (CMT) and St. Louis Midtown Redevelopment Corporation in studying the area’s potential for future development.  The full report can found at this link: https://ulidigitalmarketing.blob.core.windows.net/ulidcnc/sites/32/2021/12/Grand-Station-2021-TAP.pdf.

            The just-released report is the second Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) study by ULI of the Grand MetroLink Station.  Nearly 10 years ago, ULI delivered a TAP of the Midtown station at the request of CMT.  Some of the 2012 TAP recommendations were adopted, including the formation of a redevelopment corporation and the development of Chouteau Greenway, now known as the Brickline Greenway.  Since then, surrounding neighborhoods have been energized by historic redevelopment, such as the Armory and City Foundry and the development of new residential options just south of the MetroLink station.  But the area remains difficult to traverse as a pedestrian, lacking key connections to and from Grand, transit, and what are or will be key development sites. “The car reigns supreme on Grand Boulevard and throughout the surrounding area,” commented Chris Beard, of Lochmueller Group, who served as chair for this latest TAP. 

The area studied in the TAP is bordered loosely by Interstate 64/40 to the north, Chouteau Avenue to the south, South Theresa Avenue to the east, and South Spring Street to the west, and generally encompasses what should be a five-minute walk from the Grand MetroLink Station.  Much of the study focused on connectivity surrounding the station, but it also looked at optimizing the marketability of the area.  Among the TAP recommendations:

• Improve connections to the surroundings along Grand, especially the connections to and between the forthcoming Brickline Greenway, MetroLink light rail service, and the MetroBus service on Grand;

• Fully capitalize on the area’s rich in transit options by improving access. Movement between light rail and bus lines is currently limited an elevator ride or stair climb. The report recommends improved bus waiting areas and additional options for more open and visible vertical movement. Additionally, the installation of a crosswalk across Grand to link the stops for the north and south bus routes would make safe a path that many bus riders choose to traverse today;

• Capitalize on multi-family residential options under development in the study area where the market has proven strong for market-rate rental units in this part of St. Louis;

• Broaden already strong communication and relationship building in the immediate area to reach further north and south into neighborhoods home to commuters who might move through the area on a daily basis. Communicate that services and amenities in or coming to the district are for everyone, not just those living or working in the immediate area;

• Expand connectivity north and south on Grand for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other non-vehicular traffic. Optimize Grand for multi-modal transportation, including strategies such as narrowing or removing the landscaped median, narrowing the existing traffic lanes, and buffering the sidewalk and bike lanes from moving vehicles;

• Establish development guidelines and/or create a form-based code for the area.  This would help direct development in a manner that can enhance connectivity throughout the district and even promote connectivity to the Grand roadway by encouraging or incentivizing development up to and connected with the street. Reducing parking requirements, using parking maximums, or requiring the prioritization of transit, walking, and/or biking in new developments will reduce the vehicular traffic in the area and encourage more people to use the sidewalks, trails, and greenway;

• Fully leverage the Saint Louis University (SLU)-inspired new name for the district – Prospect Yards. Feature the name on enhanced wayfinding signage and branding and align with the identity as much as possible.

Leading the effort in collaboration with ULI were Kim Cella of Citizens for Modern Transit, and Brooks Goedeker of St. Louis Midtown Redevelopment Corporation. ULI members conducting the TAP included:

• Chris Beard, director of traffic engineering and planning, Lochmueller Group;
• Justin Carney, principal, Development Strategies;
• Erica Henderson, economic development consultant;
• Toyin Oduwole, broker/owner, St. Louis Realty Partners; 
• Bonnie Roy, partner,SWT Design; and
• Will Smith, director of asset management and investments, New + Found.

With more than 250 members, ULI St. Louis unites thought leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide.  Its members include real estate, design, construction, institutional, legal and accounting professionals along with civic leadership.   For more information, visit www.stlouis.uli.org.

Citizens for Modern Transit (CMT) is the region’s transit advocacy organization. It was established in 1985 to help bring light rail to St. Louis and works to develop, support and enhance programming and initiatives to ensure safe, convenient and affordable access to the region’s integrated public transportation system. CMT champions, challenges, encourages and advocates for public transit in an effort to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life in the St. Louis region.  

Effective January 1, 2022, Hank Rohwedder, Hank’s Excavating & Landscaping, Inc., Belleville, Illinois was re-elected as President of the Southern Illinois Builders Association.

Other officers for 2022 are:  First Vice President – Jeff Limbaugh, Limbaugh Construction Co., Inc., Granite City, Illinois; Second Vice President – Scott Plocher, Plocher Construction Company, Inc., Highland, Illinois; and Secretary/Treasurer – Richard Boyer, Boyer Fire Protection, St. Louis, Missouri.

Three year Directors elected were:  Lyle Simonton, Subsurface Constructors, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri; Jon Carroll, Poettker Construction Company, Breese, Illinois; and Thomas Cramer, Casper Stolle Quarry, Dupo, Illinois.

SIBA Staff Members:  Donna Richter, Chief Executive Officer; Shannon Partington, Executive Assistant; John Holt, Senior Director of Safety and Education; Shari Schutzenhofer, Administrative Assistant; Stephanie Foster, Administrative Assistant; and Naomi Reyes, Administrative Assistant.

The Southern Illinois Builders Association is a trade association of contractors representing approximately 500 commercial and industrial building, highway and utility construction contractors throughout Southern Illinois.

As vehicle travel returns to pre-pandemic levels and federal transportation funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) begins to reach states, it will be critical that states make additional investments to improve the efficiency and condition of the nation’s freight network to minimize supply chain disruptions, according to a new report released today by TRIP, a Washington, DC based national transportation research nonprofit.

The TRIP report, “The U.S. Freight Network’s Critical Role in the Supply Chain” examines the latest information on the condition and reliability of the nation’s supply chain and the critical role of the U.S. freight transportation network in keeping the U.S. economy moving. The report finds that, while U.S. vehicle miles of travel (VMT) bottomed out in April 2020 at a level 40 percent below that in April 2019, by September 2021, U.S. VMT had rebounded to 1.8 percent below September 2019 levels. Vehicle travel in the 13 states listed in the chart below has now surpassed pre-pandemic rates. VMT data for all 50 states can be found in the report’s appendix.

While national vehicle miles of travel dropped by as much as 40 percent during the pandemic, freight movement fell by just 10 percent by April 2020, demonstrating the resilience of the supply chain and the nation’s reliance on freight movement. National freight movement – including for-hire trucking, freight railroad services, inland waterway traffic, pipeline movements and air freight – peaked in August 2019, bottomed out to its lowest level in April 2020, and by September 2021 had rebounded to within two percent of September 2019, the most recent pre-pandemic September.

“With our existing multimodal infrastructure, capacity and relative lack of congestion, the St. Louis region is a reliever for other regions during national and global supply chain disruptions, but continued investment to improve and expand infrastructure here and across the nation is essential to help minimize current supply-chain bottlenecks and prepare for future growth,” said Mary Lamie, executive vice president of multi modal enterprises for Bi-State Development and executive director of the St. Louis Regional Freightway. “Priority projects identified by the St. Louis Regional Freightway’s Freight Development Committee will specifically improve transportation efficiency and reliability for manufacturing and logistics companies and reduce costs, especially during supply disruptions, while supporting on-time delivery. Improvements to I-270 in Missouri and Illinois, relocated IL Rte. 3 in East St. Louis, Illinois, and the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis rail tunnel project in downtown St. Louis are sample projects in the bi-state region we serve that could benefit from this new federal funding.”

Congestion and decreased or unpredictable reliability on the nation’s freight transportation network can impact delivery times and hinder the delivery of goods, supplies and raw materials, disrupting manufacturing supply chains and prolonging the time it takes for customers to receive their orders. Traffic congestion can increase the cost of goods and services as a result of increased delays. The Texas Transportation Institute, in its 2021 Urban Mobility Report, found that increasing traffic congestion resulted in a 77 percent increase in traffic delays for commercial trucks from 2000 to 2019, increasing from 219 million hours to 387 million hours.

“This latest TRIP report highlights the critical role the operation of the nation’s supply chain has on economic growth and quality of life for all citizens,” said Ed Mortimer, vice president of transportation infrastructure at the United States Chamber of Commerce. “With passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure legislation, new federal resources will join with state, local and private partners to modernize the freight network in a one-in-a-generational opportunity to rebuild and innovate, ensuring America’s competitiveness long into the 21^st century. It’s time to get to work!”

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) prepares an annual list of the nation’s top 100 truck bottlenecks, based on the analysis of a massive database of truck GPS data, to quantify the impact of traffic congestion on truck-borne freight. The chart below shows the top 20 truck bottlenecks.

“Highway bottlenecks cost the trucking industry more than $75 billion each year, contributing to the recent surge in inflation and driving down supply chain efficiencies,” said Bill Sullivan, executive vice president of advocacy for the American Trucking Associations. “The TRIP report provides some of the starkest evidence yet of the dire consequences of underinvestment in our nation’s most critical infrastructure. IIJA provides the greatest opportunity in a generation to address these deficiencies and addressing highway freight bottlenecks must be given the highest priority by federal and state departments of transportation.”

Reliability in the ability to predict freight travel times is of critical importance, particularly to industries that rely on “just in time” manufacturing to have the right material, at the right time, at the right place, and in the exact amount needed. Late deliveries can have costly ripple effects and can cause costly disruptions in the production process. Decreased reliability also requires drivers to budget extra time, track routes in real time and make route adjustments to account for inconsistent travel times and delays. The following chart indicates the nation’s ten least reliable major freight highway corridors, based on a reliability index that indicates how much longer travel times are on heavy travel days, compared to normal days (the top 25 are listed in the report). The numbers after the decimal point can be treated as a percentage; a corridor with a travel time reliability index of 1.50 had travel times that were 50 percent longer on heavy travel days, compared with normal days.

The condition of the nation’s freight network can greatly impact the delivery of goods. The pavement life cycle on the National Highway Freight Network, which includes the nation’s major freight routes, is greatly affected by state and local governments’ ability to perform timely maintenance and upgrades to ensure that road and highway surfaces last as long as possible. The TRIP report finds that four percent of pavement on the National Highway Freight Network are rated in poor condition, while 19 percent are rated in fair condition and the remaining 77 percent are rated in good condition. Four percent of National Highway Freight Network bridges are rated in poor condition, 43 percent are rated in fair condition, and the remaining 53 percent are rated in good condition.

Signed into law in November 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will increase investment in highway, road and bridge projects needed to improve the efficiency of the nation’s supply chain. The IIJA will provide $304 billion for highways, roads and bridges over the next five years through September 30, 2026 — a 34 percent increase over current funding levels. 

Improving the condition and performance of the nation’s network of roads and bridges will require a significant increase in investment. According to the Status of the Nation’s Highways, Bridges and Transit:  Conditions and Performance Report to Congress released by the United States Department of Transportation in 2021, the U.S. would need to increase annual road, highway and bridge investment by 55 percent over the current level of highway investment to make significant improvements in road and bridge conditions, reduce traffic congestion, and improve traffic safety.  The nation currently faces a $1 trillion backlog in projects needed to improve reliability, safety and conditions.

“In the short term, improving the performance of the nation’s supply chain will require addressing the many supply chain challenges that are restricting the timely movement of freight,” said Dave Kearby, TRIP’s executive director. “But ensuring that the nation’s long-term goals for economic growth and quality of life are met will require investing adequately in an efficient transportation system that will provide the U.S. with a reliable supply chain.”

Holiday gift giving came early for the Saint Louis Crisis Nursery as the IBEW Electrical Workers Minority Caucus (EWMC) delivered more than 35 coats to the social service agency.  It was all part of the EWMC’s year-long coat drive that culminates in giving coats to families in need.  The IBEW Electrical Workers Minority Caucus is a member of the Electrical Connection, a partnership of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1 and the St. Louis Chapter, National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA).

The coats were delivered to the Crisis Nursery on Dec. 6, 2021 by Sylvester Taylor, director of diversity, equity and inclusion for the Electrical Connection; Tiffany Jones, IBEW Local 1 apprentice, who volunteers at the nursery; and Carl Burke, vice president, EWMC and a member of IBEW Local 1439. The Saint Louis Crisis Nursery provides a short-term, safe haven for 5,000 children annually from birth though age 12, whose families face an emergency caused by illness, homelessness, domestic violence or overwhelming parental stress.  Learn more at www.crisisnurserykids.org.

Last month, EWMC delivered nearly 100 coats for children to the Hazelwood School District.  The coat drive distribution will continue through the end of the year.

The Electrical Connection partnership provides safe and reliable commercial, industrial and residential electrical construction, maintenance, repair and replacement services across Missouri, the nation and the world. It is an important resource for business and civic leadership for new technology, including disruptive technologies, advancing electrical and communication infrastructure.  Learn more at www.electricalconnection.org

Holiday gift giving came early for the Saint Louis Crisis Nursery as the IBEW Electrical Workers Minority Caucus (EWMC) delivered more than 35 coats to the social service agency.  It was all part of the EWMC’s year-long coat drive that culminates in giving coats to families in need.  The IBEW Electrical Workers Minority Caucus is a member of the Electrical Connection, a partnership of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1 and the St. Louis Chapter, National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA).

The coats were delivered to the Crisis Nursery on Dec. 6, 2021 by Sylvester Taylor, director of diversity, equity and inclusion for the Electrical Connection; Tiffany Jones, IBEW Local 1 apprentice, who volunteers at the nursery; and Carl Burke, vice president, EWMC and a member of IBEW Local 1439. The Saint Louis Crisis Nursery provides a short-term, safe haven for 5,000 children annually from birth though age 12, whose families face an emergency caused by illness, homelessness, domestic violence or overwhelming parental stress.  Learn more at www.crisisnurserykids.org.

Last month, EWMC delivered nearly 100 coats for children to the Hazelwood School District.  The coat drive distribution will continue through the end of the year.

The Electrical Connection partnership provides safe and reliable commercial, industrial and residential electrical construction, maintenance, repair and replacement services across Missouri, the nation and the world. It is an important resource for business and civic leadership for new technology, including disruptive technologies, advancing electrical and communication infrastructure.  Learn more at www.electricalconnection.org

The Mechanical Contractors Association of Eastern Missouri (MCA), Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 562 and the Plumbing Industry Council joined forces this year for their first collaborative charitable giving initiative, a Bike Drive through which they secured 350 bikes to be donated to underserved area children. From Nov. 8 to Dec. 2, members of the three groups donated fully assembled bicycles and scores of helmets for children ages 2 to 7, with the host organizations securing the additional helmets needed to ensure one was available to donate with each bike.

In the coming weeks, the bikes and helmets will be delivered to several local organizations that will be distributing them to the children they serve to help provide a little holiday cheer. The recipient organizations include Bible Way Fellowship Church of the Living God, St. Louis Bicycle Works, Our Little Haven, Toys for Tots, Feed My People, Saints Joachim and Ann Care Service, Saint Norbert—Knights of Columbus, Jennings Do-Dads, Orchard Farm School District, City of Ferguson, Florissant Police Department, and Gene Slay’s Girls and Boys Club of St. Louis.

“The joy on the face of a young child on Christmas morning is undeniable. For many years now, Mechanical Contractors Association and its members have been fulfilling holiday wishes for children and families helped by Our Little Haven,” said Chris Muñoz, Associate Director of Our Little Haven, a St. Louis organization focused around supporting underserved area youth. “We are honored to share the joy each child experiences with our community partners. Thank you for your continued support and for sharing in our mission to care for every child, mind, body, and soul.”

In addition to co-hosting this year’s Bike Drive, the MCA and Local 562 also made a separate $7,500 donation to Our Little Haven. This donation will be used to replace a leaky roof located at 4435 West Pine Blvd in the Taylor Family Care Center, which serves as the offices of Our Little Haven’s foster care case managers, who help more than 90 area children currently in the foster care system find a permanent loving and nurturing family home.

“We are thrilled to continue our long-standing support of Our Little Haven and to extend our holiday giving to several other charitable organizations through this new collaboration with our industry partners,” said Kristy Stephens, Executive Director of the MCA. “It’s truly heartwarming to be able to positively impact the lives of so many children this holiday season, and we look forward to collaborating on similar initiatives for years to come.”

John Boyd, a pipefitter and the pastor at Bible Way Fellowship Church of the Living God, also shared his appreciation for the sponsoring organizations and their members, noting how they not only provide a service for the industrial community, but also take time to think of the little ones in the season of giving.

With each bike and helmet combo averaging a $130 value, it is estimated that the inaugural Bike Drive raised the equivalent of $45,000 in bikes and helmets for local children.

About the Mechanical Contractors Association of Eastern Missouri

The Mechanical Contractors Association of Eastern Missouri is an organization of union mechanical contractors that empowers members through education, training, information and labor-management relations. The MCA promotes excellence in the local mechanical contracting industry and for our employees and clients. Mechanical Contractors install and service technologically advanced and energy-efficient heating, air conditioning, refrigeration, and piping systems. Learn more at www.mca-emo.com.

About Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 562

Local 562 has grown to include 4,500 members who serve the plumbing and mechanical industry in 67 counties in Eastern Missouri. Its membership offers a wide array of plumbing and mechanical skills that are valued throughout the construction industry, and the organization works daily through the employment of its signatory contractors to provide consumers and the public with the safest, most highly trained, productive workforce in the region. For more information, visit www.local562.org.

About the Plumbing Industry Council

Established in 1967, the Plumbing Industry Council addresses member issues of concern including labor relations, business practices legislation, code and regulatory issues, industry standards, requirements and regulations affecting the plumbing industry job site safety. In addition, the Plumbing Industry Council promotes the use of licensed, union plumbing contractors who are engaged in all facets of plumbing including residential and commercial service and repair, new residential construction, light commercial and commercial construction, sewer repair/replacement sewer tracing camera, onsite/septic installation and repair, water main/site utilities. Learn more at www.picstl.com.

October Job Openings Set Record

Construction employment, seasonally adjusted, totaled 7,533,000 in November, an increase of 31,000 from the upwardly revised October total and a gain of 180,000 (2.4%) year-over-year (y/y) from November 2020, according to AGC’s analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data posted on Friday. Nevertheless, the November total was 115,000 (-1.5%) below the pre-pandemic peak in February 2020. Residential construction employment, comprising residential building and specialty trade contractors, increased by 10,300 in November, putting the total 95,000 (3.2%) higher than in February 2020. Nonresidential construction employment—building, specialty trades, and heavy and civil engineering construction—increased for the third-straight month, by 20,800, following gains of 34,600 in October and 32,700 in September. But nonresidential employment remains 209,000 (-4.5%) below the February 2020 level. Nonresidential employment has regained only 67% of the jobs it lost between February and April 2020, compared to 83% for total nonfarm payroll employment and 120% for residential construction. A total of 469,000 former construction workers were unemployed in November, a drop of 263,000 (-36%) y/y. The industry’s unemployment rate in November was 4.7%, not seasonally adjusted, compared to 7.3% in November 2020. Individuals are counted as unemployed only if they have “actively looked for work in the prior four weeks.” The huge decrease in the number of unemployed workers—83,000 more than the increase in construction employment y/y—suggests construction workers are either finding jobs in other sectors or dropping out of the workforce, at least temporarily.

There were 410,000 job openings in construction, an openings rate of 5.2% of the open and filled positions, seasonally adjusted, at the end of October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Monday in its latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) release. Openings jumped 62% y/y, and the openings rate was the highest for any month in the 21-year history of the series. Hires totaled 378,000, a decline of 23,000 (5.7%) y/y, and the hires rate was 5.0% of total employment, the second-lowest October rate ever. Layoffs and discharges totaled 139,000, down 61,000 (-31%) y/y, with a layoff rate of 1.8 per 100 employed, a record low for any month. The record high for the openings rate and record low for the layoffs rate strongly imply that the meager rate of hiring reflects an inability to find qualified candidates, not diminishing demand. Quits totaled 188,000, a jump of 56,000 (42%) y/y, with a quit rate of 2.5%, the second-highest October quits rate in series history.

Contractor readers are invited to fill out AGC’s 2022 Hiring and Business Outlook Survey by Monday, December 13. Results will be released in mid-January.

The covid-19 vaccination rate among construction workers in the four weeks through November 28-December 4 was 57.0%, compared to 82.8% for other occupations, according to the construction safety and health research organization CPWR. Conversely, construction workers have a far higher “vaccine hesitancy” rate, 40.2% vs. 15.3% for other occupations. The figures, based on an ongoing survey of Facebook users by the Delphi Group of Carnegie Mellon University, suggest another reason contractors are short of healthy workers.

The Dodge Momentum Index decreased 4% in November from October, Dodge Construction Network reported on Tuesday. The index “is a monthly measure of the initial report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which have been shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year. In November, commercial planning fell 8% while institutional planning moved 5% higher. The value of nonresidential building projects continues to move in a sawtooth pattern, alternating between a month of gains followed by a loss. Since the pandemic began, nonresidential building projects entering planning have been more volatile than in past cycles, likely driven by increased challenges from higher prices and lack of labor. Despite these issues and a lack of underlying demand for some building types such as offices and hotels, the Momentum Index remains near a 14-year high. Compared to November 2020, the Momentum Index was 44% higher in November 2021. The commercial planning component was 45% higher, and institutional was 41% higher.”

“Economic activity in the services sector grew in November for the 18th month in a row—with the Services PMI setting a record for the fifth time in 2021,” the Institute for Supply Management reported on Friday. Construction is among the 18 services sectors, all of which reported growth in November. All sectors also reported increased new orders but also higher prices paid and slower deliveries, Items reported up in price that are significant for construction included aluminum (for the fifth month in a row), construction labor (4 months), construction contractors (5 months), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products (3 months), steel products (11 months), and transportation costs (2 months). Lumber was reported down in price for the fifth-straight month. Items listed in short supply included construction contractors (3 months), subcontractors (4 months), labor, and materials; copper; plastic pipe (2 months) and fittings; PVC; and steel products (3 months).