PORT ARTHUR, Texas — Lamar State College Port Arthur held a groundbreaking Wednesday for a facility that will bring thousands of jobs to Southeast Texas.
Organizations gathered to celebrate the new LSCPA commercial driving site.
Once the facility is completed, commercial drivers will be able to not only train there but also take their required exams, in a timely manner.
"We will easily see more than 1000 people examined here in a year when the thing is fully functional," said LSCPA’s Vice President for Workforce and Continuing Education, Ben Stafford.
Stafford has been the one heading this project since 2018.
“It will be the largest commercial driver's examination center in the state of Texas,” he said.
It took some hard work getting different organizations to come together and bring the project into fruition.
Stafford says that Jefferson County offered of the 24 acres of land for this project and initially they received $4.3 million from the Cares Act, but it wasn’t enough to cover the increased costs, post COVID-19 pandemic.
It was the $1.7 million donation from the T.L.L Temple Foundation that helped push the project over the finish line.
A member of the T.L.L Temple Foundation, Jerry Kenney, says that for the organization it was all about how they could empower local rural communities and have residents become qualified to get those jobs.
Residents will be able qualify for jobs making $60,000 to $70,000 a year, according to Kenny.
These jobs come at a time when the demand for truck drivers has and is continuing to increase in Texas.
Construction has already started on the site and Stafford says they plan to be fully operational by the end of 2023.