There Is No Final Decision on a PLA for Construction of the New Lake Champlain Bridge

Statement from Stanley Gee, Acting Commissioner, New York State Department of Transportation

ALBANY, NY (03/19/2010)(readMedia)-- The Times Union's article, "State's Bridge Bids Avoid Union Agreement, Lake Champlain span's reconstruction doesn't need a PLA" by James M. Odato, published this morning, is full of inaccuracies. Beginning with the title and subtitle, which characterize finality, and the lead sentence, which states that the Department of Labor, not the Department of Transportation, is seeking bids for the project, the article is misleading.

The fact is that the decision on whether or not a project labor agreement (PLA) will be utilized for construction of the Lake Champlain Bridge has not yet been made. Indeed the decision was made this week to advertise for bids for the construction project consistent with the Department's efforts to replace the Lake Champlain Bridge as quickly as possible. The advertisement did not include a provision for a PLA. This action does not preclude the use of a PLA. A decision about the use of a mandatory PLA has not been made.

Separately, the New York State Department of Transportation has included a PLA on an I-287 project advertisement where we have used PLAs previously on projects in the I-287 corridor in Rockland and Westchester Counties. This PLA has been submitted to the Federal Highway Administration for approval since it is a federally funded project.

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Contact: Deborah Sturm Rausch, P: (518) 457-6400, E: drausch@dot.state.ny.us