SYRACUSE, N.Y, (NCCNews) – A local hiring event on Wednesday brought almost 200 people to learn about and apply to work on the I-81 Viaduct Project.
One of the goals of the I-81 Viaduct Project is to reconnect communities that have been divided for generations. The project is expected to be finished by 2028 and with so much work to be done, there is a huge demand for more workers.
Southside resident Dashawn Burns said he wants to be a part of the project to be a part of something big.
“To be a part of a community, something that’s going to be here forever, I want to take pride in something that I did,” Burns said.
The public information officer for the I-81 Viaduct Project Tanisha Murphy, said feedback from the community drove the New York State Department of Transportation to implement a local hire initiative.
“It was important for the community to see people that looked like them working in their neighborhoods on this project,” she said.
Executive Director for the Urban Jobs Task Force of Syracuse Tylah Worrell is an advocate of this initiative.
“It’s very important that with these multi-million-dollar projects that are coming in here, that locals have these opportunities first above all else,” Worrell said.
The project costs $2.25 billion. Community efforts also led to a requirement that contractors hire at least 15% of their staff locally.
Syracuse resident Donald Ventro was extremely excited about the opportunity.
“There are a lot of communities that are struggling through New York state, and we have the perfect opportunity for us to grow together as a community and that’s part of our state.”
This is not the first I-81 local hire event and Murphy said there will be many more ahead.
Prospective employees can also reach out to the New York State Department of Transportation, to get connected with their training services and contractors. There are outreach centers and contacts available on www.dot.ny.gov.
