The highway paving market will remain relatively flat next year, according to a forecast by ARTBA. It predicts that highway work will increase next year just 2.3%, to $47.7 billion, which would still be well below 2010's level of $51 billion. "The good news is that after reaching record levels in 2012, the bridge market will stay close to that level in 2013," says ARTBA's economist Alison Black. Her forecast sees up to $28.2 billion in bridge work next year. "Any real growth in 2013 will count on state funding, which does not look good," she says.
The National Association of Home Builders says this year's estimated 22% increase in single-family housing starts was not a fluke. NAHB predicts the market will continue to come back with a 25% increase in 2013, followed by another 30% increase in 2014. Those upticks would bring the market back to 865,000 units. "We think it will continue to grow from there," says Robert Denk, NAHB senior economist. He predicts that market fundamentals can support 1.4 million single-family housing starts a year, but that won't happen until 2016.
BP Pleads Guilty to Felony Charges, Hit With Record Fines In a historic negotiated settlement announced on Nov. 15, BP agreed to plead guilty to felony manslaughter, environmental crimes and obstruction of justice and to pay more than $4 billion in criminal fines and penalties for its conduct leading to the devastating Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. The settlement, the largest of its kind in U.S. history, should give a boost to the cleanup and restoration effort in the Gulf of Mexico.A significant portion of the fines will go directly toward Gulf restoration and cleanup, Justice Dept. officials said at
Unemployment Eases Construction's unemployment rate declined in October to 11.4% from September's 11.9%, as the industry recorded a gain of 17,000 jobs in the month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest monthly report. Any impacts on the job market from rebuilding after Superstorm Sandy would not start to be reflected until November's statistics. Stephen Sandherr, Associated General Contractors' CEO, said overall construction employment is not expected to show a major net change because of the hurricane. He said, "Even as some firms pick up work repairing damaged buildings and infrastructure, other firms will suffer as previously planned projects
Related Links: McGraw-Hill Research and Analytics: 2013 Dodge Construction Outlook ENR Construction Industry Confidence Index survey (2Q 2012) The construction industry next year will continue its slow climb out of a long and deep recession, but the recovery is unsteady and remains vulnerable to factors such as the cloudy federal fiscal picture, according to McGraw-Hill Construction’s 2013 forecast, which was released at its annual Outlook conference in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 24.Total construction starts will rise 6% next year to $483.7 billion, as a continuing rebound in housing and private nonresidential building outweighs weakness in institutional building and public works
Photo Courtesy of Bridges to Prosperity Nonprofit Group Builds Footbridge in Rural Nicaragua Volunteers built a 164-ft suspension footbridge that allows people from several Nicaraguan villages to cross the Rio Jucuapa River safely near Jucuapa Abajo. Work ended on on Oct. 9. Turner Construction, New York City, and Flatiron Construction, Firestone, Colo., donated materials, expertise and personnel. The nonprofit group Bridges to Prosperity, Denver, supervised. The organization pinpoints key river crossing points for rural communities in need of health care, education and economic opportunities. It then recruits workers and collects materials. The organization also teaches footbridge design and engineering techniques
September Jobless Rate Is Up But Is Below 2011, 2010 Levels The jobless rate rose to 12% in September from 11% in August. But it was the second-lowest monthly rate of 2012 and below the same-month rates last year and in 2010 (see chart). The figure marked the 24th-straight month of lower year-over-year industry unemployment. However, over the past six years, the industry still has shed 2.2 million jobs, a 29% drop.Bechtel, Babcock & Wilcox Face DOE Site Performance Issues As design issues continue to dog its work on a $12.3-billion nuclear-waste processing plant at the U.S. Energy Dept.'s Hanford
Brooklyn's long-delayed sports village has unveiled its first finished project. Officials were concerned that an L.A. bridge demolition would snarl traffic on one of the nation's busiest highways. At Long Last, Brooklyn Sports Arena Opens Brooklyn Nets co-owner Bruce Ratner, developer of the $4.9-billion Atlantic Yards, initially expected to have Barclays Center ready for the 2007 basketball season. But after surviving major obstacles, the arena opened on its latest schedule and budget on Sept. 28. The $1.1-million arena's hard cost is $524 million; its soft cost is $182 million. Site acquisition and sitework cost $153 million. Financing cost $135 million,
Texas Hospital Job Gets OK A Nashville hospital company and a Philadelphia hospital have been picked to develop and run a $350-million, 250-bed freestanding children's hospital that will be linked to the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. UT regents voted on Sept. 7 to choose Vanguard Health Systems Inc. of Nashville and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for the project. Vanguard will fund the complex, and the Philadelphia hospital will help administer it. The hospital is set to open in about 30 months, but no date has been set for a construction start.Boston Skyline Set To Change
