The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) recently forecasted that the U.S. transportation infrastructure market would expand 4.2 percent in 2019.
This growth will be fueled by government investments, although investment will vary significantly by state or region, ARTBA said. The expanded market is forecasted for 25 of the states.
The expected growth is the same rate the transportation construction market grew in 2018. A total of $5.8 billion, or 33 percent of the market, was airport terminal and runway construction.
This year, public highway and street construction spending increased $2.7 billion.
In 2019, domestic transportation construction and related market activity are forecasted to reach $278.1 billion, $11.2 billion more than 2018, after adjusting for project costs and inflation.
Two factors could negatively affect ARTBA’s forecast: the ability of Congress to find additional revenues to support the Highway Trust Fund and the scheduled 2020 reauthorization of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act.
“If states start delaying transportation improvement projects in response to uncertainty over the future of the federal program, it will temper 2019 market growth,” ARTBA Chief Economist Alison Premo Black said.
Uncertainty also exists over potential labor shortages in some regional markets, increased labor costs and material prices.