Construction spending totaled slightly more than $1 trillion in April, up 2.2% from March’s level, the Commerce Dept. has reported.

The U.S. Census Bureau’s latest monthly report on the value of finished construction projects, released on June 1, also said that April’s total was up 4.8% year over year.

April’s residential construction put in place edged up 0.6%  from March, but slipped 1.8% year over year.

Nonresidential work posted a 3.2% month-to-month gain and climbed 8.8% from April 2014’s rate, said the Census Bureau, which is part of the Commerce Dept.

Anirban Basu, Associated Builders and Contractors chief economist, noted that prior months' figures for nonresidential construction had been revised upward.

Basu said, "The presumption had been that nonresidential spending construction data would improve as we approached the summer, and the outlook ahead remains solid."

Among major nonresidential categories, highways and streets totaled $87.4 billion in April, up 8.5% from March and 4.8% year over year.

Educational projects totaled $79.2 billion, a 3.2% increase from the previous month but up just 0.4% from April 2014.

Sectors showing double-digit gains in April from year-earlier levels included commercial construction, office buildings, lodging, sewage-waste disposal and amusement-recreation.

On the down side, the power segment—the largest category at $91.4 billion—fell 11.3%, year over year.