Promoting Employment in Transit Construction Projects by Members of Minority and Low-Income Communities JULY 2013 FTA Report No. 0080 Federal Transit Administration PREPARED BY Genevieve Giuliano, METRANS Transportation Center Policy Hilda Blanco, Center for Sustainable Cities Deepak Bahl, USC Center for Economic Development University of Southern California COVER PHOTO Courtesy of Edwin Adilson Rodriguez, Federal Transit Administration DISCLAIMER This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The United States Government assumes no liability for its contents or use thereof. The United States Government does not endorse products of manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the objective of this report. Promoting Employment in Transit Construction Projects by Members of Minority and Low-Income Communities JULY 2013 FTA Report No. 0080 PREPARED BY Genevieve Giuliano, METRANS Transportation Center Policy Hilda Blanco, Center for Sustainable Cities Deepak Bahl, USC Center for Economic Development University of Southern California SPONSORED BY Federal Transit Administration Office of Research, Demonstration and Innovation U.S. Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 AVAILABLE ONLINE http://www.fta.dot.gov/research Metric Conversion Table SYMBOL WHEN YOU KNOW MULTIPLY BY TO FIND SYMBOL LENGTH in inches 25.4 millimeters mm ft feet 0.305 meters m yd yards 0.914 meters m mi miles 1.61 kilometers km VOLUME fl oz fluid ounces 29.57 milliliters mL gal gallons 3.785 liter L ft3 cubic feet 0.028 cubic meters m3 yd3 cubic yards 0.765 cubic meters m3 NOTE: volumes greater than 1000 L shall be shown in m3 MASS oz ounces 28.35 grams g lb pounds 0.454 kilograms kg megagrams T short tons (2000 lb) 0.907 Mg (or “t”) (or “metric ton”) TEMPERATURE (exact degrees) o 5 (F-32)/9 o F Fahrenheit Celsius C or (F-32)/1.8 FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION ii REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruc­ tions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188), Washington, DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY 2. REPORT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED July 2013 01/01/2007–03/30/2013 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS Promoting Employment In Transit Construction Projects by Members of Minority CA-26-8004-00 and Low-Income Communities 6. AUTHOR(S) Genevieve Giuliano, Hilda J. Blanco, Deepak Bahl 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESSE(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER University of Southern California 3720 S. Flower St. CUB 301 FTA Report No. 0080 Los Angeles, CA 90089 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY REPORT U.S. Department of Transportation NUMBER Federal Transit Administration East Building FTA Report No. 0080 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES http://www.fta.dot.gov/research 12A. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 12B. DISTRIBUTION CODE Available from: National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Springfield, VA 22161 TRI-20 Phone 703.605.6000, Fax 703.605.6900, email [[email protected]] 13. ABSTRACT This project had a dual aim: understanding the extent to which local low-income and minorities participate in employment generated by transit projects and identifying practices to increase their participation. We developed four in-depth case studies of recent light rail projects: Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s Vasona Project, Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s Green Line, St. Louis Metro’s St. Clair Extension, and Los Angeles Metro’s Gold Line Eastside Extension. We determined that in three out of the four cases, local minority and low-income workers obtained a fair proportion of construction jobs generated. We conclude that a complex interplay of a transit agency’s size and construction activity, demographic profiles and trends within metropolitan areas, contracting methods and the relative integration of regional construction markets, and/or unions influences who gets the jobs in transit construction. We identified areas of concern and opportunity for best practices in minority and local hiring in transit projects: contracting mechanisms, outreach to ensure disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE) participation in transit projects, financial assistance for DBE firms, ensuring contractor compliance with DBE programs, and agency leadership. Under these categories, we identified 14 best management practices (BMPs) and prepared a manual for transit agencies. For each of the BMPs, we discuss the background for the practice, followed by the rationale for the practice and examples. We also document the research support for the practices. 14. SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF PAGES Employment impacts of rail transit; employment impacts of federal projects; 262 Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) policy; segregation of construction labor; local hire policies in transit construction 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 20. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT OF REPORT OF THIS PAGE OF ABSTRACT None Unclassified Unclassified Unclassified TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Executive Summary 14 Section 1: Introduction 19 Section 2: Equity in Transit Construction: Who Gets the Jobs? 46 Section 3: Case Study Selection and Market Area Characteristics 67 Section 4: Introduction to Case Studies 71 Section 5: Santa Clara County VTA’s Vasona Light Rail Project 90 Section 6: DART’s Green Line Project 107 Section 7: St. Louis Metro’s St. Clair MetroLink Extension Project 121 Section 8: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro)'s Gold Line Eastside Extension Project 141 Section 9: Conclusions from the Case Studies 149 Section 10: Manual of Best Management Practices for Transit Agencies for Increasing Participation of DBEs and Local Minority Low-Income Employment in Transit Construction 171 Section 11: Dissemination of and Responses to the Manual 176 Appendix A: Description of Data Sources Used 179 Appendix B: Further Explanation of Some Indicators Used 181 Appendix C: Tables of Indicator Values at MSA Level 184 Appendix D: Factor Analysis Tables 189 Appendix E: Contractor Survey, Methodology, and Results 209 Appendix F: Survey and Results of Cement Masons Union Members 225 Appendix G: Interview Questions for Agency Officials, Contractors, and Union Officials 230 Appendix H: Survey of Best Management Practices for Increasing Minority and Low-Income Employment in Transit Construction 238 References FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION iv LIST OF FIGURES 21 Figure 2-1: U.S. population, civilian labor force, and construction labor by race and ethnicity, 2007 23 Figure 2-2: Elements and phases of a transit project 25 Figure 2-3: Major design and construction contracts for MAX light rail project, by category 26 Figure 2-4: Employees in operation of transit systems in U.S., by type of operation, 2010 26 Figure 2-5: Percentage of employees in transit, by transit type, 2010 33 Figure 2-6: Overview of the multi-level contracting structure for transit construction projects 47 Figure 3-1: Recent light rail project locations within U.S. 57 Figure 3-2: Distribution of race and ethnicity of full-time construction workers, 2000 72 Figure 5-1: Santa Clara VTA’s light rail system 74 Figure 5-2: Vasona corridor LRT project 75 Figure 5-3: Campbell Station in VTA’s Vasona line 91 Figure 6-1: Map of DART’s light rail system 95 Figure 6-2: Map of DART’s Green Line project 95 Figure 6-3: Green Line downtown Carrollton Station 97 Figure 6-4: Comparing design-bid-build vs. CM/GC at-risk contracting approaches 109 Figure 7-1: Map of St. Louis light rail system 112 Figure 7-2: St. Clair County Metrolink Extension map 113 Figure 7-3: St. Louis Metro St. Clair Extension’s Belleville Station 122 Figure 8-1: LA Metro Rail map 127 Figure 8-2: LA Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension project map 128 Figure 8-3: LA Metro Gold Line train at official dedication of east LA Civic Center Station, November 14, 2009 LIST OF TABLES 11 Table ES-1: Best Management Practices for Transit Agencies 16 Table 1-1: Research Tasks, Sections Addressing Tasks, and Revisions 25 Table 2-1: Construction Elements of a Major Transit Project 28 Table 2-2: Taxonomy of Construction Industry in U.S. (NAICS 23) 29 Table 2-3: Annual Payrolls, Number of Employees, and Average Salary of Construction Workers in U.S., March 2006 31 Table 2-4: Distribution of Commute Times (in Minutes) for Full-Time Construction Workers in Dallas, Los Angeles and New York MSAs in 2000 47 Table 3-1: Transit Projects and Locations 50 Table 3-2: Indicators Used for Project Selection and Characterization FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION v 52 Table 3-3: Summary of First-Cut Transit Construction Project Start, Opening, and Status 53 Table 3-4: Transit Construction Projects Selected for Further Study