Julio Rodriguez of R&R General Contractors works on the Civic Drive MAX station in Gresham.
Construction workforce
set record
A local construction contracting firm has garnered the highest minority participation of any TriMet project with its work on a new Max station in Gresham.
R&R General Contractors hired a project crew of disadvantaged and minority business firms that accounted for 77 percent of the construction of the Civic Drive MAX station.
R&R President Jesse Rodriguez served as the prime contractor for the project, and also hired several other minority firms to complete construction. The station opened earlier this month.
A minority-owned company based in Wilsonville, R&R won the prime project contract of $1.76 million of the overall $3 million project budget. R&R then subcontracted out several station project jobs to other Disadvantaged Business Enterprise firms, including A2 Fabrication, Green Art Landscaping, O’Neil Electric and Workhorse Construction.
“What TriMet does to create opportunities for DBE firms is amazing, especially in these tough economic times,” said R&R President Jesse Rodriguez. “They put a lot of time and effort into getting local minority contractors up to capacity.
R&R Constructors was founded in July 2008 and currently employs six people. The company has worked on two other projects for TriMet — rail improvements and station improvements.
“We are committed to helping local minority contracting firms succeed and expand their capacity,” said TriMet General Manager Neil McFarlane. “Reaching a record DBE participation is a great milestone, and we will continue to help grow these small and emerging firms.”
