Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel shares a high-five with a member of the Chicagoland Laborers at the March 29 groundbreaking for expansion of the Laborers’ training center. (Mayor’s Office photo)

Chicagoland Laborers is planning a $19 million expansion of its training center.

The training center of the LiUNA Chicagoland Laborers District Council Training and Apprentice Fund is aimed at keeping pace with infrastructure investments happening in Chicago.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said at that March 29 groundbreaking that his administration has invested $35 billion in infrastructure to create 104,000 jobs and projects that are underway or that have been announced that will create an additional 45,000 jobs in 2020 and beyond.

“These are more than investments in infrastructure; they are investment in our residents,” Emanuel said at a groundbreaking for the Laborers’ building expansion. “By building the best public transportation system, most efficient aviation system, strongest road system, most modern school system and greatest park system, we are creating jobs, building stronger communities and securing our place as a world class city for today and for the future.”

The Training and Apprentice Center already is home to 105 apprentices and 6,000 journeymen per year. The expansion will allow the Laborers’ to increase training to 1,000 apprentices a year and more than double their current training capacity to 13,000 journeymen a year. Improvements include 70,000 square feet of new space, 12 classrooms, 10 training bays, a 340-seat auditorium and a 6,000-square-foot administrative remodel. The Laborers’ will also nearly double their current training staff of 25 to 48.

Since 2011, Chicago has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure improvements in neighborhoods across the city including construction and renovation for schools, libraries, parks, transit, water/sewer main replacement and housing. Each of the projects helped create thousands of jobs to be filled by trainees from the center as well as increase access to city services and improve the quality of life for residents, Emanuel said.

Chicago Public Schools and the Board of Education have invested $4 billion across the city to build schools, provide playgrounds and air conditioning, improve access to technology with new computers and increased bandwidth, expand academic programs, and make core investments to fix and maintain facilities. City Colleges of Chicago has modernized four campuses and invested more than $600 million in capital projects to bring the city’s community colleges into the 21^st century, the mayor said.

More than $300 million in new investments have been made in the Chicago Public Library system under the “Branching Out: Building Libraries, Building Communities” initiative to develop and modernize community libraries throughout the city. Six libraries have been built and significant updates have been made at 14 branches. In 2019, renovations at four libraries will be complete.

Through the Chicago Plays! Program and park developments, the Chicago Park District built 365 playgrounds in neighborhoods across the city. Today, nearly all Chicago residents live within a 10-minute walk to a park or open space due to park acquisitions. The Park District also opened urban park projects including the 606, separation of the Lakefront Trail, Maggie Daley Park and 31st Street Harbor.

Under Emanuel, the Chicago Transit Authority has completed, begun or announced more than $8 billion in transit projects to modernize the rail and bus system. Since 2011, nearly 30 percent of CTA stations have received upgrades and rehabs. Improvement projects include: Red and Purple Line modernization, Red Line extension, Your New Blue modernization of Blue Line O’Hare Branch, Red Line South rebuild, 95th Street terminal reconstruction, Wilson Station reconstruction, FastTracks rail system improvements, new Washington Wabash ‘L’ station, new Cermak-McCormick Place ‘L’ station, Garfield Gateway improvement and IMD station rehab.

More than $3.8 billion in airfield, passenger terminal and infrastructure improvements have been executed at Chicago’s airports. The O’Hare Modernization Program is moving ahead, with two new runways opening since 2011 and three total new runways since the start of the O’Hare Modernization Program. The fourth and final new runway is under construction and anticipated to open in Fall 2020. The Midway Modernization Program is modernizing concessions, parking and security infrastructure–elements aimed at streamlining the passenger experience from curb to gate.

Chicago has also added 200 miles of protected bike lanes giving the city a total network of 318 miles of bike ways. The Chicago Department of Transportation has completed 41 streetscape projects, rehabbed or built 36 bridges and repaved more than 2,160 miles of arterial and residential streets and alleys. The Department of Water Management has replaced more than 590 miles of old water mains, replaced or lined 458 miles of sewer mains and lined 89,000 sewer structures.

The Chicago Housing Authority has invested more than $1.6 billion in building improvements and construction of affordable housing across the city. That includes the creation of new mixed-income housing and the renovation of thousands of CHA senior and other units to provide new and improved housing for low-income families both on the sites of former public housing and in neighborhoods throughout the city

In 2017 and 2018, Chicago averaged more than 60 tower cranes in operation during the year. Adding to Chicago’s building boom, the Department of Buildings issued a record-breaking 48,408 permits in 2017 and nearly reached that total again for 2018.

With many projects announced or still underway, the growth in infrastructure jobs is expected to continue into 2020. Key projects for 2020 and beyond include $1.3 billion for continued water/sewer main replacement, $7 billion for the O’Hare Modernization program, $100 million for Chicago Department of Transportation-related projects, $47 million for Gately and Addams Park, $85 million for the Public Safety Training Academy and $44 million for the Belmont Cragin School addition.