In its newest report, Transportation Infrastructure: Gearing Up for Change, McGraw-Hill Construction’s Research and Analytics takes a look at the current state of the nation’s transportation infrastructure and its prospects for the future—particularly given the recent investment made with the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Unfortunately, much more needs to be done to build and maintain the transportation infrastructure that is so critical to national competitiveness and American way of life, the report states. However, the substantial allocation for transportation in the ARRA, combined with the rapid obligation of ARRA transportation funding, will yield a strong market in the near term that will grow by 25% over 2008 levels.
According to McGraw-Hill Construction, construction starts for surface transportation infrastructure totaled $64.0 billion in 2008. Of this total, roughly 61% of starts were for street construction, 22% for bridges, and 8% for runways, taxiways and rail beds. Another 9% of transportation starts were for buildings associated with this infrastructure, including passenger terminals, freight terminals and service facilities. Regrettably, the need greatly exceeds current levels of investment. The National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Commission, which was created as part of the current federal surface transportation bill (SAFETEA-LU), states that the U.S. needs to invest well over $200 billion annually for the next 50 years to achieve a state of good repair for existing systems and to create more advanced systems that will encourage future economic growth.