Spending on road construction is expected to grow 16% in 2024, the second year in a row of double-digit gains, according to a new report from the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.
The public highway, pavement and street construction sector is forecast to rise $17.4 billion over 2023, for a total of $126 billion, says the annual outlook from ARTBA Chief Economist Alison Premo Black.
Leading the increase is the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law, in which projects are now moving from the funding phase to construction. The report adds, “Many states are increasing their own revenues to match federal funds and make additional transportation investments, using a combination of general fund transfers, bond issues, business taxes and other user-fee increases.”
Highway, pavement and street construction represents the largest transportation construction market sector. Overall, Black predicts total transportation construction spending will grow 14% to $214 billion in 2024. She also estimates state departments of transportation will spend 13% more on highways and bridges in fiscal year 2024 over the previous year.
2023 Award Values Up & Down
ARTBA also reports that the value of contract awards for state and local government transportation projects was up 9.5% from 2022 year-to-date.
However, for the month of October, the overall value of awards was $8.4 billion, which is down from a record-level $10.8 billion in October 2022, according to ARTBA. Contract values were $6 billion in October 2021.
States with the biggest gains in 2023 year-to-date include: Hawaii, Texas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Louisiana, Colorado, Kansas, Utah and California, the association reports.
