$5 million project at Columbus Tech to create training for high paying jobs. Here’s how

Mark Rice
·3 min read

As many as 350 new truck drivers could be trained per year when this new facility opens in the fall at Columbus Technical College.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the approximately $5 million project took place Monday. Revenue sources, in addition to Columbus Tech, come from:

Columbus Tech is trying to raise approximately $10 million to add a workforce development center for military veterans and their dependents on the same site, 2339 Fort Benning Road. The vacant 10-acre property is the former home of the Camellia Apartments. The Pezold family donated some of the land, and Columbus Tech bought part of it, for a total of approximately seven acres for this project.

“This is really about economic development,” Jack Pezold told the Ledger-Enquirer after the ceremony. “Columbus Tech does this so well. … This is a real great opportunity for us. We’ve been blessed to be here and want to give back to the community.”

All of which helps the college achieve its mission to improve job training for people and organizations in the Chattahoochee Valley.

“Columbus Tech’s promise to the community is that we’re going to provide the workforce that’s needed,” Martha Todd, the college’s president, told the Ledger-Enquirer after the ceremony. “We do that by supporting our students to make sure that they can get training that’s going to help the build a career and get a job that’s going to sustain their families, and this is going to be a great example of that.”

Truck driver shortage

“The trucking industry faces unprecedented demand from consumers and shippers, an unparalleled commercial truck driver shortage, and persistent challenges across the supply chain,” Denise Wells, Columbus Tech’s executive director of public relations and communications, told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email.

Truck drivers earn an average of $92,099 in Columbus and $82,774 nationally, according to Indeed.com.

In 2021, the American Trucking Association estimated the truck driver shortage hit an all-time high of more than 80,000. If the trend continues, the ATA said, the shortage could surpass 160,000 by 2030.

The primary factors for the truck driving shortage, according to the ATA, include:

  • High number of retirements.

  • Increasing number of states legalizing marijuana, causing more truck driver and potential ones to fail drug tests because the substance still is banned federally.

  • The federally mandated minimum age of 21 to drive commercially across state lines “poses a significant challenge to recruiting new drivers.”

  • The pandemic caused some truck drivers to leave the industry and truck driver schools to train fewer drivers than normal.

“The severe shortage is pushing up freight costs and, in turn, nudging up retail prices,” Wells said. “And it’s leading to late deliveries that leave store shelves empty. The crunch also is affecting corporate profits and the stock market as higher transportation costs ding company earnings. It has occasionally forced manufacturers to shut down production if they don’t receive raw materials in time.”

The location of Columbus Tech’s Commercial Truck Driver Training Range and the future Veterans Education Career Transition Resource Workforce Development Center is 2 miles from Fort Benning, optimally positioned for soldiers ending their U.S. Army service.

Approximately 2,500 soldiers exit their service at Fort Benning each year and seek to join the civilian workforce, Wells said, and more than 20,000 military veterans reside in the Chattahoochee Valley.

How to register

The truck driver program will provide all the training needed to obtain a license in only four to six weeks, Todd said.

The cost to attend the program is about $1,600 but would be an estimated $50-$100 for students who qualify for the HOPE Career Grant, Columbus Tech vice president for academic affairs David Kuipers told the L-E.

Registration isn’t available yet, but the application form will be posted “shortly” on Columbus Tech’s website, Todd said.