Schumer says infrastructure bill includes local-workforce provision for I-81 viaduct project

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The newly passed federal infrastructure bill includes a provision that would facilitate a local workforce on the upcoming Interstate 81 (I-81) viaduct-replacement project.

The bill includes language for local hire programs that would allow state and local governments to use targeted hiring programs to connect local workers and businesses to work on federally funded transportation-infrastructure projects.

The programs would target workers and businesses, “especially in disadvantaged and underrepresented communities,” U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D–N.Y.) and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) said in a Thursday announcement.

This provision includes support for the federal government, states, localities, and labor and community organizations to work together to offer training through pre-apprenticeship and registered-apprenticeship programs to “expand access” to new job opportunities for local residents on construction projects funded by U.S. Department of Transportation programs.

Additionally, the final bill includes a first-ever program to reconnect communities divided by transportation infrastructure, in addition to $11.5 billion in new highway funding for New York State.

The top three reasons the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is great news for Syracuse and Central New York are “local jobs, jobs, jobs,” Schumer said.

“As Central New York embarks on a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform and revitalize I-81 in Syracuse, it is critical that these investments support good-paying jobs with a focus on local residents and help reconnect communities previously divided by highways,” the senator added. “That is why I fought so hard to include a permanent local hire program and investments to reconnect communities while leading negotiations for the soon to be law bipartisan infrastructure deal. This legislation will ensure I-81 has the funding it needs to revitalize Syracuse and connect local workers to good paying jobs.”

President Joseph Biden is set to sign the $1 trillion infrastructure bill on Monday, per a Wednesday article on the website of CNBC.

In June, Schumer and Gillibrand visited I-81 in Syracuse with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and discussed an expansion of the local hire pilot program in this infrastructure deal and the creation of the Reconnecting Communities program. In March, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) in March implemented a temporary local hire pilot program for highway projects, the lawmakers said.

The senators explained that the Biden Administration unveiled the American Jobs Plan on March 31. The plan was a predecessor of the infrastructure legislation framework and called for “reimagining and rebuilding” a new economy.

The plan included a direct mention of Syracuse’s I-81 as one example of a project that would aim to reconnect neighborhoods cut off by “historic investments and increase opportunity,” including through the use of local-hire jobs programs and initiatives to advance racial equity and environmental justice, Schumer and Gillibrand said.