Major I-5 Highway Improvement Project has Black Prime Contractor

Local governments can learn from the process that brought a Black prime contractor to major highway construction projects.

PORTLAND, Ore. - March 22, 2022 - PRLog -- Raimore Construction, a Black-owned company based in Portland Oregon, is a prime contractor on the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project. The owner has made it a business mission to build wealth within communities that have been historically left out. Prime contractors on major projects in the construction field can both provide living wage jobs as well as opportunities for self-employed vendors. There are positive takeaways from this project and it's process. States serious about true diversity and inclusion should take a look.

There are mega-projects in the Pacific Northwest that are moving toward construction. The now $1.3 billion Interstate 5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project and the $4.5 billion Interstate Bridge Replacement Program are two. The potential to create historic inclusion and economic wealth is real.

Oregon's Governor Kate Brown has been hitting the ball out of the park lately in the important area of diversity. She recently Erious Johnson, a Black man from Howard University's famed law school, to the bench in Oregon (see the Portland Medium newspaper at https://theportlandmedium.com/local-news/african-american-appointed-to-marion-county-bench-in-oregon/).

The I-5 project has not been a walk in the park. However, Gov. Brown spent close to two years collecting community and stakeholder input before directing the Oregon Transportation Commission to move forward with a hybrid option that is deemed to be a win-win for most parties involved. The I-5 freeway improvement option (Hybrid Option 3) allows for light development and revitalization of the Albina District - a historic Black community that was broken up when the highway was originally constructed.

Much of what is driving this huge project is commerce and transportation. Data is showing that Portland, Oregon' interchanges are considered among the nation's worst trucking bottlenecks - impacting traffic and the supply chain.

The Black-owned construction company on this project has a history of high quality work production. Jeff Moreland is one of the founders of the construction company that has been around for more than twenty years working on major projects as a DBE certified general contractor.

What has been most interesting is the scientific ways in which Oregon has approached the process of ensuring diversity. A Resource Scholars Show event focused on building Black wealth as it relates to the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project (see Building Black Wealth, Success in Govt Contracting at www.resourcescholarsshow.com).

[More on the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project and Building Black Wealth can be found at the Resource Scholars Show Community online platform at https://www.resourcescholarsshow.com/post/the-i-5-rose-quarter-improvement-project-watch]

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