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Huge Job: What draws Quad Cities workers to a job 100 miles away

Hundreds of Quad Cities-area workers commute hundreds of miles every day to work at the largest construction site in Iowa.

On 340 acres of land south of Burlington, Iowa is a city that never sleeps, and during the 5 a.m. shift change it looks like a scene from "Field of Dreams."  It's the largest construction project in Iowa history.  Hundreds of Quad Cities-area workers commute every day to work at the facility in Wever.

Among the hundreds of drivers is apprentice operating engineer Jakob Kluger.

"If it wasn't worth it I wouldn't do it," says Jakob Kluger.  He drives more than two hours - nearly 100 miles - to work on the giant production plant for Iowa Fertilizer. "You gotta go where the work is," Kluger says.

Huge Job: What draws Quad Cities workers to a job 100 miles away

But now it's the home of almost 3,000 workers, including Kluger, who has made the long commute every work day since June, avoiding running deer and the urge to get more shut-eye.

"There's a few back roads you can take," Kluger confesses.  He says changing the route keeps him alert; and the back-and-forth trek is important to him and his family.

"Four hours of driving every day isn't really that fun," Kluger says.   "But the fact that I get to see them every night, that makes it all worth it."

Moline iron worker Todd Wadkins is another transplant here, but he's decided to rent a home and stay in the area near the plant.

"It's different," says Wadkins.  "I get home to my family once every two weeks.   I've met a lot of neat people from around the United States."

But ask anyone here, this is the place to be.  It's an enormous project.

"This is definitely the big job," says Wadkins.

Huge Job: What draws Quad Cities workers to a job 100 miles away

And it's run like a city, complete with buses moving people around, and it has its own fire department.  In fact, during construction, it's the third largest city in Lee County, Iowa.

The region is seeing a big economic impact right now.  Lee County had the state's highest unemployment rate before the plant opened.  That rate has fallen from more than 6.5% to less than six percent in December 2014.

"We're all in this to support a family at home, to be able to go home and enjoy yourself and provide for the families," says Ryan Drew, business  representative of Local 150 West of the International Union of Operating Engineers.

Though some specialty work is done from crews who live far away, the bulk of this project is being built by local men and women.

Huge Job: What draws Quad Cities workers to a job 100 miles away

"We try to piecemeal the next job to the next job to make it to the end of your career, you know, that's what it's about," says Drew.  "It's called temporary jobs, but it's one temporary job to another to build a career."

"Eventually you'll probably get a job that's less hours and closer to home and you'll get home more," Kluger says.

But for now, it's the long commute: Work where you can find it, no matter how far.

 

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