Projects across ENR's 11-state Midwest region are being postponed or shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic with no real certainty in sight as to when they might continue. The wide-ranging secondary effects of the novel coronavirus and the shutdowns it caused include loss of sales tax and revenue for state incentives.
Exceptions for construction work are broadly defined in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin coronavirus orders, Michigan's is narrower
Construction in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin is seen as essential infrastructure, so work continues on most sites in those states. Minnesota, Kentucky, Missouri and Kansas's orders broadly exempt outdoor activities. Michigan's order includes public works construction as essential.
Metropolitan Council, the regional policy-making and planning agency for the Twin Cities region, achieved a milestone in the long planning process for the proposed $1.77-billion Southwest Light Rail Transit Line project.
India-based Essar Steel’s plan to build an iron-ore crusher and pellet mill on Minnesota’s Iron Range has become an epic construction struggle, with non-payment to contractors, past-due loans and another total work stoppage, says Barry Davies, business representative, International Association of Ironworkers Local 612, Minneapolis.