Steamfitters school on the way
JACKSON TWP — The new Steamfitters trade school being build in the township is scheduled for a January 2017 opening.
The trade school is in the area surrounded by Wise Road, Mercer Road, Little Creek Road and Route 19 near Zelienople.
Construction began in December and is being done by union contractors from the Pittsburgh-based Mascaro Construction Co.
Steamfitters Local 449 business manager Ken Broadbent said classes will be first offered at the beginning of next year and the new facility will accept about 60 students.
The union is based out of Pittsburgh.
The first phase of the project focuses on building the 75,000-square-foot training center, which costs about $18 million.
The second phase will have union offices, union halls and meeting halls being built. The cost for that phase has not been determined.
Broadbent said applications for apprenticeship classes are usually accepted in the fall.
The steamfitters deal with appliance-based and industrial-based work such as heating, refrigeration, air conditioning and process piping.
Broadbent said tuition for the five-year apprenticeship program is free. Potential apprentices have to take an aptitude test to gain admittance.
He said union members put $1 per hour toward the program.
Location was the main reason why Jackson Township was chosen for the facility.
Local unions in Pittsburgh and Erie were consolidated. The township was determined to be the halfway point between Erie and the Pittsburgh/West Virginia border.
The area is also near major roads.
“It's on the lifeline from north to south on Interstate 79, 10 minutes north of the Turnpike, 20 minutes south of Interstate 80,” Broadbent said. “It's a central location for many highways.”
One concern Broadbent and other Steamfitters officials expressed in the past was the state Department of Transportation's pending decision on building a roundabout at the intersection between Mercer and Little Creek Roads.
“We hope they keep it as a traffic signal,” Broadbent said. “The roundabout will take up more room and I don't think the semi-trucks can make the roundabout. There's a lot of trucks that come through that way.”
If PennDOT decides the intersections qualify for roundabouts, no sidewalks can be built for the facility.
