News
BY KATY MCAFEE
Austin City Council gave the green light March 7 to launch the Austin Infrastructure Academy to connect thousands of residents with jobs as the region embarks on $25 billion in capital projects. The infrastructure academy’s creation has been in the works for months through partnerships between local officials, educators and representatives from infrastructure industry, workforce development and labor groups. The academy will begin at Austin Community College’s Riverside campus, as well as at on-site facilities through Workforce Solutions Capital Area and Skillpoint Alliance. “We’re going to build the physical infrastructure that we determined we need for this community, [but] we don’t have the human infrastructure in place,” Mayor Kirk Watson said. Partnership to boost workforce
The outlook
The impact
Austin needs to hire 4,000 more people annually through 2040 an October report found. Infrastructure job demands
affordable child care, as it remains a barrier for parents, particularly women. Women make up about 15% of Austin’s skilled trades workforce, Watson said, but it should be around 41% to be consistent with the general population of the city’s workforce.
four-year university. Creating that reality means starting the recruit- ing process as early as seventh grade, said Sarah Garza, director of mobility industry partnerships at Workforce Solutions Capital Area. Watson said another key focus is investing in
The boom in infrastructure jobs could transform Austin into a city that doesn’t require a college degree to be successful, Watson said. Watson said a “key goal” of the academy is to establish a new normal in which a high school graduate can go to trade school instead of a
Projects, plans for Austin infrastructure needs
Newly certified individuals
Jobs needed
August: Austin-Bergstrom International Airport West Gate expansion begins • March: City leaders announce Austin Infrastructure Academy to be headquartered at Austin Community College’s Riverside campus • I-35 Capital Express Central breaks ground • Fall: New jet fuel facility at ABIA to be completed Spring: Convention center closes; new airport baggage handling system to open Austin Transit Partnership to secure federal funding for the Project Connect light rail, West Gate expansion to open Project Connect light rail breaks ground New convention center to open Project Connect rail slated for completion I-35 project slated for completion
2023
General construction 893
2024
2,863
2025
Fleet maintenance and repair
75
2026
1,208
Frontline mobility and operations
2027
802
1,126
What’s next
2028
ACC Riverside
Skilled trade
1,689
2029
1,980
35
in Southeast Travis County is one of several investments funded through ACC’s 2022 bond. The campus will be located off FM 973 near the airport and offer programming centered around advanced manufacturing and skilled trades.
City officials announced March 22 that Austin Community College’s Riverside campus would serve as the infrastructure academy’s main physical hub. The academy will also operate out of ACC’s Southeast campus once it opens in four to five years. The $200 million, 76-acre facility
973
GROVE BLVD.
SOURCES: CITY OF AUSTIN, CIVICSOL/COMMUNITY IMPACT
2030
71
The program announcement follows an October report that found Austin will need to increase its infrastructure and mobility workforce by 81% by 2040 to realize its laundry list of capital projects.
130 TOLL
183
2031
ACC Southeast
2032
STASSNEY LN.
N
2033
2034
SOURCES: CITY OF AUSTIN, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, AUSTIN TRANSIT PARTNERSHIP/ COMMUNITY IMPACT
BRODIE LANE 4970 Hwy 290 W (512) 366-8260 SOUTHPARK MEADOWS 9900 IH-35 Service Road S (512) 280-7400
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