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By
Jim Baer
It was about an half hour into a seminar at a Clayton Hotel
where the topic of discussion was how companies will be dealing
with the Highway 40/I-64 construction project. This particular
project will stretch from just east of Kingshighway in the City
to Spoede Road in Mid-St. Louis County and take three years
to complete.
The Human Resource Management Association of Greater St. Louis
had assembled a veteran panel of HR specialists and more than
100 members sat with rapt attention.
A variety of subjects had been broached ranging from flextime
to ride sharing and telecommuting from home, and other solutions
were methodically being offered.
Jackie Plunkett, SPHR, Maryville University cleared her throat,
set down her water glass and offered this thought: “Well, good
luck everybody!” That got a hearty laugh from everyone in the
room.
Each working day, more than 150,000 cars and trucks travel back
and forth along this high-traveled stretch of interstate highway.
Delays have been intolerable and conditions are downright dangerous.
The Missouri Department of Transportation had no choice other
than to embark up this $535 million dollar major overhaul. In
fact, conditions are so dire that many bridges are unsafe and
the construction launch has been moved up 12 months.
Four panelists from three major organizations revealed their
employee-based plans. Representatives on the panel were Nina
McVey and Kim McCurdy of Enterprise Rent-A-Car; Bob Buer of
St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Plunkett from Maryville University.
The meeting was organized by Denise Chachere, president-elect
of HRMA and instructor in the Cook School of Business at Saint
Louis University. Chachere, who also owns her own consulting
company, is concerned for employers and employee fallout from
this unprecedented construction project.
“Employers will need to be flexible. They will need to offer
flex time and flexibility in arrival and departure time for
their employees,” Chachere reasoned. “Telecommuting is always
a possibility but employers are very concerned about abuse and
overall lose of control of the employer with this alternative,”
she said.
“We need to borrow the best practices of what other major cities
have done with their (highway) rebuild projects. What we may
need is shock therapy to get a lot of people out of their cars,”
she offered.
Enterprise, which has 1,400 employees in four regional locations,
has studied the problems extensively. McVey, Corporate Assistant
Vice President, HR elaborated. “We want our employees to look
at alternate routes to reach our locations (corporate headquarters
in Clayton),” rattling off I-70, I-44, Manchester, Olive, Page,
Clayton and Ladue roads as choices.
McCurdy, Information Systems Assistant Vice President for Enterprise
offered a litany of suggestions including carpooling, ride share,
riding MetroLink and buses. She said Enterprise is already looking
at alternate work days and the work-day will shift to combinations
6 a.m. to 3 p.m., 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 10
a.m. to 7 p.m.,” said McCurdy.
Buer’s concerns at mid-town Children’s Hospital are far more
complex. The medical giant has more than 20,000 employees and
he knows gridlock could seriously impact the BJC overall workforce.
“Even crossing Highway 40 is going to be problematic. We have
a great number of employees who arrive by crossing Kingshighway
and that bridge, too will be rebuilt.”
Buer pointed out that all nearby Washington University students
and faculty are provided free Metro passes in order to reduce
the number of automobiles on the roads.
Plunkett of Maryville pointed out that any solution for her
university will not be short term. “We need our employees to
be here (at school) to service our students. We have 200 adjunct
staff members and part-time staff and 283 full-time employees.
Many of our teachers are coming from other locations around
the community. We’ve already experimented this past summer with
four-nine hour work days,” she revealed.
“We are encouraging everyone to use RideFinder and share rides
with friends and neighbors.” Maryville is partnering with nearby
St. Lukes’ Hospital and corporations in the Maryville Center
complex. Classes are being held at far-flung locations like
their satellite location off I-44 in Fenton and in O’Fallon,
Mo.
Citizens for Modern Transit (CMT) is helping the communities
cope with the congestion that will result from the I-64 project.
CMT has organized a Guaranteed Ride Home program as an incentive
for workers to commute by transit, bus or train or simply bicycle
to and from work.
Other plans call for an employer to allow its employees to pay
for transit or vanpooling out of their gross pay (pre-tax income).
Currently, BJC and Children’s Hospital offer a $20 transit subsidy
with the remaining cost of a monthly pass being $35.
The CMT encourages companies to offer flextime, compressed work
weeks, offer job sharing and telecommuting.
Buer of Children’s Hospital is encouraged. “Given the large
number of employees at our hospitals and our location within
a densely populated medical center, it was important for BJC
and Children’s to offer convenient and commuter-friendly services
for our staff. Citizens for Modern Transit really jumped in
and helped us out—making this an easy program to implement with
big successes. Parking garages are expensive to build, and this
program is a great alternative,” said Buer.
Plunkett may have gotten a good laugh by wishing everyone “good
luck,” but strategic planning and implementation of alternative
travel plans will pay off in spades.
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Start
Fast, Finish Fast
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History
reveals that I-40 (Highway 64) has been a make-shift project
of tunnels and twisting ribbons extending from downtown
to West St. Louis County for years. Originally known as
the Red Feather Expressway, the highway was mostly built
and rebuilt anywhere from 1930 to 1960. Only minor upgrades
have occurred in the last 45 years. A safety barrier along
the Skinker stretch did not come into play until the 1970s.
Many lost their lives on crossovers along that stretch including
KMOV’s newsman Steve Trenkmann in the mid 70s.
Far too many cars squeeze onto this highway each day, and
bridges and overpasses and interchanges are in dire need
of replacement. In fact, the entire project has been pushed
up a whole year because of failing conditions along the
way.
Leslie Hoffarth, I-64 Project Director District 6 Administrator
for the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) explained
why the needs are so great.
“Many of our bridges are in desperate need of replacement,”
said Hoffarth at a recent seminar for human resources officials.
“On a scale of ‘9’, many of our bridges are rated ‘3’s’
and ‘4’s’ and we had to speed the process up because many
are in danger of needing to be shut down almost immediately,”
she explained.
The $535 million dollar rebuild begins in the spring of
2007, and construction will take place in three phases.
All lanes of I-64 and I-170 will be open by Dec. 31, 2009.
Final work and landscaping will be complete by July 31,
2010.
Beginning in the spring of 2007, the I-170 and I-64 interchange
will be rebuilt. The intersection will remain open during
the year-long reconstruction. In 2008, the western half
of the project will be under construction. The interstate
will be closed in both directions for work from I-170 west
to Spoede Road. The western half will reopen by May 31,
2009, and the eastern portion of the project, I-64 from
I-170 to just east of Kingshighway, will close in both directions
for work. By Dec. 31, 2009, the eastern portion will reopen
for traffic. In 2010, remaining landscaping and finishing
work will be going on, but will not impact I-64 traffic.
Final completion of the project is scheduled for July 2010.
Hoffarth assures the major rebuild and redesign of I-170
and its interchanges with I-64 will break up bottlenecks
that occur at the Skinker interchange and other points along
the way. “This is a long-term quality project. This is something
that has to be done. There’s been a lot of work in preparation
of construction and we’ve cut the footprint of the project
in half from what was originally proposed,” said the project
engineer.
Originally, hundreds of homes were in the buyout, but that
number has been reduced significantly.
On November 17, 2006, the Missouri Highways and Transportation
Commission chose Gateway Constructors to design and build
the new I-64 reconstruction project. The Gateway Constructors
team is led by Granite Construction Company of Watsonville,
Calif. Major team participants include: Fred Weber Inc.,
Millstone-Bangert Inc., Parsons Transportation Group and
URS. Other team members include: Gerstner Electric; Crawford,
Bunte, Brammeier; Horner & Shifrin; Terracon; and Vector
Communications.
Hoffarth suggests planners continue getting creative on
how many cars can ultimately be taken off the road. “Buying
right-of-way is no longer a main option. The cost of property
is just too high,” she stated flatly. MoDOT is looking at
alternative methods to get drivers out of their cars and
traveling more at off-peak hours.
“We need to start (the project) fast—we need to finish fast,”
said Hoffarth. Those who travel this route regularly are
completely in agreement.
For the latest information on the I-64 project and links
to helpful information on how your business can survive
and thrive during construction, go to the new I-64 website
at www.thenewi64.org.
The New I-64 is Coming… Will You Be Ready?
Interstate 70 and Interstate 44 are the main alternate routes
during construction of I-64/Route 40. Other surface alternatives
are Manchester, Olive, or Page. MoDOT will use alternative
means to keep these routes open and moving along during
construction as best is possible.
These are suggested alternatives for travelers to get by:
• Use an alternate road
• Ride MetroBus
• Ride MetroLink
• Create a carpool
• Form a vanpool
• Work from home or a satellite
office
• Use phone or video conferencing
for meetings
• Schedule appointments to avoid
peak travel times
• Ride a bike • Walk to work
• Work on weekends |
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