McGraw-Hill Construction expects that to continue in 2010, as it predicts South Carolina to have the second-strongest percentage improvement in new contracts for states in the Southeast Construction region.

The company forecasts a 16% overall increase, for a total value of about $8.4 billion for 2010. Again, however, that increase will only partially offset last year’s larger decline of about 30%.

The nonresidential sector is expected to be flat with 2009 and deliver almost $3 billion in new projects. Considering that 2009’s projected total was 21% below 2008, that’s not great news.

Here, too, commercial and industrial contracts will fall in value. McGraw-Hill predicts a 15% downturn, for about $1.1 billion in new contracts. That will add to the pain felt by contractors working in this sector, which fell an estimated 23% in 2009.

Institutional building contracts will rebound nicely, however, improving by 13% to a historically standard level of more than $1.8 billion. (Actually, that would be the second-highest level in the past five years.)

Residential construction is projected to ramp up in South Carolina, too. After a 36% downturn in 2009 (for a $3-billion total), McGraw-Hill Construction forecasts a 25% increase for 2010, for about $3.7 billion in new contracts.

Nonbuilding—after a 33% overall dip in ’09—will show the greatest percentage increase in 2010, however. A 31% upturn should deliver nearly $1.8 billion in new infrastructure contracts. The public works subcategory will provide the vast majority of those projects. A 47% jump in this market will result in more than $1.7 billion in new contracts, for the second-highest total in five years.

After a colossal improvement in 2009—from just $12 million in 2008 to approximately $184 million last year—electric utility work will fall off by about 69% and total about $56 million, according to McGraw-Hill Construction.