A general contractor from Chester County is blaming the lack of bids on the construction project for the I-95 toll bridge above the Delaware River at Scudder Falls on its project labor agreement requirements, writes Joseph DiStefano for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission’s plan has been scrutinized by dozens of builders, and only one of them has submitted an offer. Pittsburgh’s Trumbull has offered to build the nearly four-and-a-half-mile project for $396 million, almost 20 percent above the limit the commission had set.

David Maugle, executive vice president at J.D. Eckman in Atglen, thinks that the project’s PLA requirements are the main culprit. It stipulates that builders have to agree to a project labor agreement with unions in the Philadelphia and Trenton areas. This has been a deal breaker for many firms that normally use their own nonunion workers.

“The effect of the project labor agreement would require J.D. Eckman and its subcontractors to use the local unions’ hiring halls for all project labor,” he said. “This would prohibit the use of our own trained and skilled workforce.”

Read more about the lack of bids on the bridge project in the Philadelphia Inquirer here.