Iron Workers Local 44 on the Brent Spence Bridge Breaking Ground

Dave Baker, Business Manager of Iron Workers Local 44 in Cincinnati and a 30-year iron worker, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast to deliver news the region has been waiting decades to hear: drill shaft work on the Brent Spence Bridge companion project officially began this week.

The bridge has been operating at double its intended capacity since the 1960s, with concrete falling onto traffic below, but it is finally getting the attention it has needed for a generation. Baker traced the political and funding gridlock that stalled the project and credited the bipartisan infrastructure effort that finally got it across the finish line. He also described what 6 million projected building trades work hours and approximately 1,200 peak construction jobs will mean for Local 44, the broader building trades community and an apprenticeship program that has gone from 30 to 40 applicants per year to well over 100.

• Drill shaft work on the Brent Spence Bridge companion project officially kicked off this week, launching a roughly $4 billion project expected to generate approximately 6 million building trades work hours under Davis-Bacon. The project will peak at about 1,200 construction workers. Ironworkers Local 44 is projected to have approximately 175 ironworkers on site at peak, with a steady baseline of 75 to 100 for most of the project. Total project completion — including rehabilitation of the existing Brent Spence Bridge — is expected to take about eight years.
• The project's decades-long delay was rooted in a funding standoff between two states and the federal government over a bridge that is three-quarters in Kentucky and one-quarter in Ohio, with the federal government repeatedly releasing funds far short of what the project required. Baker credited the bipartisan infrastructure bill, spearheaded in the Senate by Ohio’s Rob Portman and a group of Democratic senators, signed by President Biden, and supported by Governors Andy Beshear and Mike DeWine, as the combination that finally broke the standoff.
• Local 44 has seen its apprenticeship applicant pool grow from approximately 30 to 40 per year to well over 100. It has been driven by a combination of interest in the bridge project and workers concerned about AI displacement seeking more stable careers. Baker said he receives calls every week from iron workers across the country who want to come to Cincinnati to work on the bridge, and he maintains a list in his office of members awaiting the call.

Thirty Years in the Making — and Starting This Week

Dave Baker joined Iron Workers Local 44 in 1997 after four years of non-union metal building work in the Cincinnati area. The night he applied, someone at the hall told him the Local was going to build a bridge. That bridge was the Brent Spence. Twenty-nine years later, he is the business manager of Local 44, and drill shaft work on the companion bridge project officially began this week.

He spent four years before joining the union making $12 to $13 an hour with no benefits, no healthcare and no pension. His boss was honest with him about the margins — there was simply no room to pay more. When Baker joined Local 44, he took a pay cut to $10 an hour. Within a year, he had surpassed what he had been making before. Now, staring down retirement in the next six or seven years, he said he is well prepared — because of the union pension he has been building since 1997 and because union healthcare carried his family through a child's serious health issues without financial ruin. That, he said, is the union difference in plain terms.

What Happened to the Bridge and Why It Took So Long

The Brent Spence Bridge was built to handle 80,000 vehicles per day. It now handles approximately 160,000. It opened in 1963. Concrete began falling from it in the 1990s. The temporary fix was plywood placed between the spans to catch the debris before it hit the cars below. Baker said he is genuinely concerned about what the bridge's condition will reveal when that plywood eventually comes down.

The delay, he said, came down to three parties — the federal government, Ohio and Kentucky — all pointing at each other over who should pay for a bridge that sits three-quarters in Kentucky and one-quarter in Ohio. The federal government released money multiple times over the years, but never enough to make a meaningful dent in what a project of this scale required. Ohio governors across administrations asked why they should pay half the cost of a bridge when they only owned 25 percent. Meanwhile, every president since George W. Bush has used infrastructure investment as a campaign talking point, while delivering little.

What finally broke the gridlock was a combination of bipartisan political will and executive cooperation. U.S. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio worked across the aisle with Democratic colleagues — approximately 15 or 16 senators in total — to assemble the infrastructure bill that President Biden ultimately signed. Governors Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Mike DeWine of Ohio agreed to work together. Baker credited all of them directly. Without that alignment, he said, the bridge would still be waiting.

The Project By the Numbers

The companion bridge project is expected to generate approximately 6 million hours of building trades work, all covered under Davis-Bacon prevailing wage standards. The peak employment is expected to be about 1,200 construction workers. Iron Workers Local 44 is projected to have approximately 175 members on site at peak, with a steady presence of 75 to 100 for most of the four-and-a-half to five-year span of the companion bridge build. After the companion bridge is complete, crews will shift to the existing Brent Spence Bridge to rehabilitate it. The total project completion is estimated to take about eight years.

The general contractor is a joint venture between the Walsh Group and Kokosing Construction that Baker described as top-notch, with the project design drawing consistent admiration from everyone in the trades who has seen it. He called it a work of art in the making.

Apprenticeship Growth and a National Spotlight

The project has done more for Local 44's apprenticeship pipeline than years of outreach efforts could achieve on its own. Applications have more than doubled, growing from approximately 30 to 40 per year to well over 100. Baker attributed the surge to two converging forces: workers across a range of industries who are worried about AI displacement who are seeking careers that cannot be automated, and workers who specifically want to be part of a landmark infrastructure project.

The interest is not limited to Cincinnati. Baker said he receives calls every week from ironworkers across the country who want to come to the area when the bridge hits full stride. He maintains a running list in his office. The broader trades community is experiencing the same momentum. Outreach efforts connected to the bridge project have generated significant call volume for ironworkers, laborers, operators, carpenters and other crafts, he said.

Baker, who has been waiting his entire career to work on this bridge, said his one regret is that his role as business manager keeps him from being down in the hole with the rest of the crew. He has not ruled out finding a weekend to get his hands on it.

More information on Iron Workers Local 44 is available at ironworkers44.com.

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