Jeanine Davis' Company Has The Vikings Stadium Debris To Deal With
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- When state lawmakers voted to help build the new billion dollar Vikings stadium, they made sure that women and minorities would get a piece of the construction. Both in construction jobs and in contractors selected.
Early in the construction it appears those required targets are not only being met, they're being surpassed. Recently reported numbers show that 35 percent of workers are minorities and 10 percent are women.
One of the woman-owned companies selected for the job is charged with keeping the site clean of dust and debris.
On a hot, dry summer day, construction dirt is carried onto streets and into the air. But when that site is the new Viking's stadium the problem is super-sized.
Jeanine Davis owns Minnesota Street Works, a company headquartered in Elk River. When contractors were required to find minority and women-owned companies to help build the publicly-financed stadium, they came to her.
Davis quickly bid on the sweeping work and won the work to keep the jobsite clean.
"Any of the truck tracking that comes off at the job site we actually come around and we sweep it up," Davis said. "To make sure that none of the debris that's leaving the job goes into the environment."
The Tymco DST-6 sweeper is the newest piece of equipment that the company purchased just for the Vikings contract. The state-of-the-art machine both sweeps and vacuums, filtering the air as it moves along.
Davis' husband, Mike, targets the stadium's construction gates or anywhere trucks travel.
"They track that mud out onto the streets, that starts to dry out and that's what we're here for," he said.
With so many trucks hauling dirt and materials, it's a never ending job. MnDOT's Dewayne Stenlund says it's vital to have equipment that works in any weather.
"Some days it might be very fine powder," he said. "Other days it might be a wet sloppy muck because of the rain."
With so much dirt and dust it's a huge challenge. But it's a challenge that Davis has already proved she can tackle.
