The Colorado Dept. of Transportation says that key early repairs made to the I-70 East viaduct between Brighton and Colorado boulevards in Denver are beginning to deteriorate. Several post tension rods, installed to reduce cracking along the viaduct, have corroded and separated from the bridge. Initial signs of cracking and deterioration were first detected in 1981, triggering regular inspections and repairs to the structure. In 1997, CDOT installed tension rods to stop additional cracking. In 2005, loads on the bridge were reduced to prolong its life. A final series of major repairs, totaling over $30 million, were made in 2011.A
The Associated Builders and Contractors’ Construction Backlog Indicator (CBI) declined 3.2% during the first quarter of 2015. Construction firms report a revenue-weighted average CBI of 8.4 months, 0.3 months below the fourth quarter 2014 reading. Year over year, the CBI has increased 4% from a first quarter of 2014 backlog of 8.1 months. “Weather and a myriad of other factors always make the first quarter CBI difficult to interpret,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “A brutal winter may have postponed project-related work, including the signing of contracts. The first quarters of 2012 and 2014 also experienced CBI declines that effectively were
Prices for inputs to construction industries expanded by 1.1% in May, the largest month-over-month increase in more than two years, and only the third time in the past 10 months that construction input prices have grown on a monthly basis. Year-over-year prices fell by 3% in May and have now fallen by more than 3% in each of the year’s first five months. The last time this occurred was the third and fourth quarter of 2009. Only three of the 11 key construction inputs—nonferrous wire and cable, crude petroleum and crude energy materials—experienced monthly price increases in May.“Commodity markets experienced
Stuart Coppedge, a principal at RTA Architects in Colorado Springs, has been elected 2016 - 2017 national treasurer of the American Institute of Architects. The announcement was made at the 2015 AIA National Convention held in Atlanta from May 14 - 16. Photo courtesy of RTA Architects Stuart Coppedge Coppedge’s AIA leadership began in 2005 when he served as AIA Colorado South president, then AIA Colorado treasurer, AIA Colorado president, and AIA Western Mountain Region secretary.He then represented the six-state WMR from 2012-2014 as a member of the AIA national board of directors during a time of significant change, serving
The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index, which had declined in April, increased moderately in May. The index now stands at 95.4 (1985=100), up from 94.3 in April. The Present Situation Index increased from 105.1 in April to 108.1 in May. The Expectations Index edged down to 86.9 from 87.1 in April. Consumers’ optimism about the short-term outlook edged down in May. The percentage of consumers expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months inched up from 15.4% to 15.6%, while those expecting business conditions to worsen also increased, from 9.1% to 10.8%.Consumers’ outlook for the labor market, however,
Construction employment expanded in 232 metro areas, declined in 66 and was stagnant in 60 between April 2014 and April 2015, according to a new analysis of federal employment data recently released by the Associated General Contractors of America. “Demand, particularly from private-sector clients, has rebounded enough that many firms have been steadily expanding their head count during the past 12 months,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “But construction employment is still below prior peak levels in most areas, as firms worry about the fate of federal transportation funding.”Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. added the largest number of construction jobs in
The June Census Bureau report on nonresidential construction spending did not just offer good news about April, it also supplied upwardly revised spending data for both February and March. Nonresidential spending expanded 3.2% on a monthly basis in April and spending totaled $646.7 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis, according to the government’s initial estimate.Nonresidential construction is up by a solid 8.8% over the past year, consistent with the forecast from the Associated Builders and Contractors of high single-digit growth. The Census Bureau also revised March’s nonresidential spending figure from $611.8 billion to $626.7 billion and February’s figure from
The value of new construction starts in April increased 10% from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $698.7 billion, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. The nonresidential building sector came in particularly strong, lifted by the inclusion of two massive projects as April starts—an $8.1-billion petrochemical plant in Louisiana and a $1.2-billion office/retail high-rise in New York City. Meanwhile, residential building slipped in April, and nonbuilding construction lost momentum as the result of a pullback by public works.Through the first four months of 2015, total construction starts on an unadjusted basis were reported at $208.2 billion,
Riding a stretch of increasing levels of demand for 13 out of the last 15 months, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) dropped in April for the second month this year. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine- to 12-month lead-time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects reported the April ABI score was 48.8, down sharply from a mark of 51.7 in March.This score reflects a decrease in design services (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry index was 60.1, up from a
As I had predicted, the construction industry’s efforts to have the Colorado legislature pass a revised construction defects law has failed. The bill was intended to assure that construction defects claims initiated by condominium homeowners associations be arbitrated before going to court. But all is not lost because developers and contractors of condominium projects have other avenues available to achieve the same result. It appears that a local developer, an affiliate of Metropolitan Homes, may have a solution.The construction industry’s fear that juries are likely to favor condominium owners and their associations in defects lawsuits has prompted the industry to
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