Construction Story Archives - Page 2 of 3 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Steel Goes Up At Nitro Bridge; Harpers Ferry Detour About To Begin

Gov. Jim Justice gave updates Wednesday on two major highway projects in different parts of the state.

The structural steel for the new Interstate 64 Nitro-St. Albans bridge is almost complete.

Jason Foster, chief engineer of development at the West Virginia Department of Highways, said 2 million tons of steel would be lifted in place on Wednesday.

Next he said, concrete would be poured and asphalt laid to have the new bridge ready for traffic by next spring or summer. Another span opened last year.

“We’re just really excited about this project and the opportunity to have it completed and open to traffic,” Foster said.

In the Eastern Panhandle, U.S. 340 around Harpers Ferry will be closed for 90 days starting on Sept. 12. Contractors will work to stabilize rock formations in the area to improve safety.

“We will have the road reopened by Christmas for the region’s shopping season,” Foster said.

Foster said the Appalachian Trail would remain open through the area.

Information on the 22-mile detour is available at us340harpersferry.com.

West Virginia Agency OKs Funds for School Building Projects

The West Virginia School Building Authority has voted to fund more than $72 million in facilities projects statewide.

Monday’s vote includes construction and renovation projects for public school systems in 19 counties.

Among the funding is $11 million for construction of a new prekindergarten through eighth-grade school in the Monroe County community of Peterstown. It includes an additional commitment of more than $10 million next year.

Fayette County will receive $6.6 million along with a commitment for similar funding next year to upgrade and renovate its school system.

Also included are more than $9 million each for improvements in Clay and Ohio counties.

West Virginia Contractors Chosen for Post-Flood Construction

The West Virginia Development Office says four contractors have been chosen for housing-related construction under the RISE WV Housing Program designed to help residents affected by the June 2016 floods.

The state is providing two housing programs for eligible applicants funded by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The contractors Appalachia Service Project in Brenton, River Valley Remodeling LLC in Charleston, Thompson Construction in Lavalette and Dan Hill Construction Co. in Gauley Bridge.

In June, the state requested proposals for structural renovations, turnkey residential property reconstruction and manufactured housing unit replacement.

Procter & Gamble Still Looking for New Hires

Construction of the upcoming Procter and Gamble site in Martinsburg is well on track, but the company is still looking for 400 new hires to work the plant once fully built.

Since groundbreaking in September 2015, the Procter and Gamble site in Martinsburg has been the work zone for an average of 1,000 construction workers.

P&G officials say nine buildings will be located on the nearly 500-acre site, and all nine are seeking LEED certification – that stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

By 2019, about 700 total employees are expected to be on the site. So far, a total of 265 people have been hired, with most of those from West Virginia.

Sandy Hamilton is the Executive Director of the Berkeley County Development Authority. She says P&G has totally changed the state’s business climate.

“Once word got out that P&G’s here,” she noted, “that’s like a marketing finanza that you know, other companies in other areas of the world who didn’t know we existed, now they know we do.”

The West Virginia P&G site will be the largest Procter and Gamble site built in a decade. It will manufacture products like body wash, shampoo & conditioner, and fabric softener.

Bounce will be the first major brand made with production expected to begin in January 2018. It will be about four more years before the site is in full operation.

*Editor’s Note: This story originally indicated P&G in Martinsburg would make laundry detergent, however, this was not correct. The mistake has been removed.

P&G in Martinsburg Hires First Employees

Procter and Gamble in Martinsburg has hired its first 26 employees and expects close to 300 by the end of 2017. Those employees will work at the manufacturing facility being built in the Eastern Panhandle that was announced last year.

Since breaking ground in September 2015, construction for the 25^th Procter and Gamble site in the United States is well underway.

The facility will be the company’s first in West Virginia and the largest P&G manufacturing site built in a decade. When it’s completed, it’ll cover more than one million square feet.

P&G employees will be manufacturing products in Martinsburg like Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Bounce, and Old Spice Body Wash.

By fall 2019, company representatives say they expect the facility to employ around 700 people in total.

The first 26 employees were hired over the last three months.

32 year-old Scott Johnson is one of them. Johnson is an Air Force veteran and formerly a mechanic from Beckley. He was hired as a plant technician and moved to Hedgesville with his family in 2015.

He says he chose to move to the Eastern Panhandle because of economic opportunities.

“We’ve talked about, you know when I was growing up, man I wish we had some of the stuff like the bigger areas for manufacturing jobs,” Johnson noted, “and we’ve always talked about, man I wish we had some factories or something to work at, like some of these other areas, and it’s just great to finally see something this large coming here, and it’ll attract others I think.”

P&G is also working with Blue Ridge Community and Technical College to train its new workforce. The company will pay their employees to go through a specialized program developed for the site.

The first bit of concrete is expected to be poured on the Martinsburg site in January.

*Correction: This post was updated on December 14, 2016 to reflect the Martinsburg Procter and Gamble site as the 25th P&G plant built in the United States. A correction was also made to reflect “Old Spice Body Wash” as a brand that will be manufactured on the site.

On Right-to-Work, Other Issues, W.Va. GOP May Overturn Vetoes

With legislative session set to begin Wednesday, Republican lawmakers are pushing to make two issues an early priority: making West Virginia a right-to-work state and repealing the prevailing wage for public construction projects.

Republican Senate President Bill Cole said lawmakers will make right to work and a repeal of the state’s prevailing wage top priorities early in the 2016 session.

Prevailing wage is the average hourly wage and benefits paid to an employee working on a state construction project. Republican leaders attempted to repeal the wage in 2015, but settled on a bill to recalculate the rate.

Right-to-work laws prohibit union worksites from requiring membership by employees.

Cole says the two issues will be taken up early in order to leave time in the 60-day session to overturn a possible veto by Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin.

In West Virginia, a simple majority vote in both chambers is needed to override a gubernatorial veto, unlike most states which require a two-thirds majority.