Ruben Anthony discusses Phase 2 of I-94
reconstruction

By Jonathan Gramling

Part 2 of 2

    In the early days of interstate and highway construction, government was so intent on building the highway that it lost sight of — some would
say didn’t care — the people who were impacted by it. In the early 1960s, Milwaukee’s African American business and entertainment district was
basically decimated by the construction of I-43.
    During the ensuing 40-50 years, the Wis. Dept. of Transportation (WisDOT) has become much more sensitive to the impact — both good and
bad — that it can have with major highway projects. And during its planning and implementation stages, WisDOT is trying to minimize the bad
and maximize the good impact it can have.
    During the past four years, WisDOT has spent a total of $810 million on rebuilding the Marquette Interchange in Milwaukee. Outside of
minimizing the dislocation to businesses and commuters through keeping two lanes always open in each direction, it also gave disadvantaged
businesses (DBE) — minority and women owned — over $120 million in subcontracts to work on the project. And the economic multiplier effect
had a good impact on the economy of Milwaukee’s African American community.
    There are many reasons for WisDOT’s success in involving DBEs. One of the most important is that it created a favorable business climate for
DBEs so that they felt it was worth their time and resources to compete. “We helped dispel this whole notion that we don’t have DBEs ready,
willing and able to do work,” said Ruben Anthony Jr., WisDOT deputy secretary. “With the Marquette, that was one of the things that people said.
‘Well, you know, we would like to have DBEs participate, but they just aren’t there.’ On the Marquette, that wasn’t true.”
And when the people at the top believed that DBEs could and should compete and there wouldn’t be any attitudinal barriers to them competing,
they participated in many phases of the project. “We found that within the current construction and consultant industry, there is a significant
number of firms there,” Anthony said. “But if you’re creative and reach across to counterpart industries where they are doing vertical construction
doing buildings or manufacturing, those folks might show some interest. But for them to show some interest and invest in working with us —
because it is a big capital investment when you do highway construction with equipment and material purchases — we have to show them there
is real opportunity. Entrepreneurs will then take a look at what we do. But if they think it is going to waste their time and resources because there
are some discriminatory barriers that might not give them a fair opportunity to compete, then they’re not going to invest their resources and try to
compete. We set the tone with the Governor’s ‘Grow Wisconsin’ plan, saying that we really wanted to grow jobs and businesses. People now know
this is really going to happen. It happened on the Marquette and it’s not just talk.”
    With the Marquette Interchange coming to a conclusion in November 2008, Anthony has started to turn his sights on an even larger project,
the seven-year, $1.9 billion overhaul of the 34 miles of I-94 that stretches from the outskirts of Milwaukee to the Illinois state line. Anthony feels
this project will have a positive economic impact on the rest of the state.
    “Over the last 20-30 years, southeastern Wisconsin freeways have been neglected,” Anthony emphasized. “As a result, many of these roadways
are at the end of their useful life. So we have to do something about I-94 because if we want Milwaukee to be a first-class city, if we want
southeastern Wisconsin to be competitive with other regions like Chicago, we have to be able to move commerce through there. We can’t have
trucks sitting on the highways stuck between Chicago and Milwaukee because the investment hasn’t been made. The good thing about this is
that the Governor and Secretary Busalacchi are both committed to economic development and they understand that for economic development
to work throughout the rest of the state, it has to work in Milwaukee. We have to be able to make the connection between the ports and the traffic
coming through Chicago and be able to distribute it throughout the rest of the state. These transportation projects allow us to do that, to keep the
economy moving.”
    And Anthony and WisDOT are doing everything they can ahead of time to involve DBEs and disadvantaged people in the project. They have
started two years out from when the project begins to create an environment — and to ensure a supply — for DBE and disadvantaged worker
participation. “With all of these best practices that we discovered or implemented during the Marquette project, as we approach I-94, we have to
start thinking about doing the same thing,” Anthony said. “We have to make this not only a transportation fix, but also make it an economic
benefit for the business development side with DBEs and jobs on the labor side for residents. In fact, the people in Racine and Kenosha are more
interested in job development than they are in business development. In Milwaukee, it was both and it probably leaned more toward business
development because there are a lot of DBEs concentrated in Milwaukee.”
    One of the most important things that potential workers need is a driver’s license. Not having it could prevent people from participating in the
tremendous job growth that will occur due to the project. Again, WisDOT is intent on removing this barrier ahead of time. “There are a lot of
people in Kenosha and Racine who have lost their licenses for non-criminal reasons,” Anthony said. “They lost them because they cannot afford
to pay parking tickets. We have worked with judges and other folk in the area to help people get their driver’s licenses restored. If we are going to
have the success like we had in Milwaukee, we’re going to have to address that issue as well.”
    “While actual construction won’t get started until spring 2009, there are preliminary tasks that need to be performed and could be performed
by DBEs. “The letting will happen a little prior to 2009,” Anthony said. “The opportunity right now is on the design side. If you are an engineering
and design consultant or you do public outreach or anything relevant to the environmental impact statement process, this is the time to come on
board. Right now we’re seeing most of our design engineers getting ready because those packages are being let out together now and that
recruitment is going to start happening now. If there are DBE engineering firms here in Madison who don’t mind making that commute to
Milwaukee, now is the time for them to start talking about how can their design or engineering company be a part of this. Now is the time to talk.
Right now is also a good time for people who do demolition because they have four houses and maybe a business they will have to take down. If
you do demolition or you are involved in real estate, there are opportunities there for you to come on and be involved.”
    Anthony sees the positive economic impact happening well into the future. About half way into the I-94 reconstruction, the reconstruction of
the Zoo Interchange on the west side of Milwaukee will begin. And I-94 will be getting a facelift from downtown Milwaukee out to Waukesha.
Now is a good time to plan to get into the business even if one is not able to compete at the moment because the opportunity stretches so far off
into the future. “For companies that are looking to build a niche, even if there is a person out there who is a civil engineer and they have a few
years of experience under their belt and they are responsible and are thinking about entrepreneurship, now is the time for them to be thinking
about forming a business,” Anthony said. “Kids who are in high school right now who are good in math and science, now is the time for them to
be thinking about going into civil engineering. If you go into civil engineering now and you get 1-2 years experience under your belt, you can
really make a difference on this project. I’ve been talking to some of our Prime and DBE firms and they are having a tough time recruiting civil
engineers, particularly minority civil engineers. One guy told me last week that any civil engineer that knocks on his door, he has told his staff to
hire them. There is such a big demand right now for civil engineers. And this project is going to push that demand even further.”
    And one of the most important ingredients to the success of getting DBEs involved is WisDOT’s DBE Programs office. “We have the best DBE
program in the nation,” Anthony emphasized. “I’m not just saying that because they work for us. They are the point people. We couldn’t have
gotten this thing done without their hard work because they took it to a whole different level.”without a combination of Eugene’s knowledge and
their hard work because they took it to a whole different level.”
    To explore how your company could participate in the I-94 and other WisDOT projects, call the DBE Programs Office in the Civil Rights and
Compliance Section at 266-6961.