For some, it is millions of dollars’ worth of deferred paving work. For others, it is billion-dollar highway expansions. Nationwide, state transportation departments are putting projects on hold due to shrinking budgets. Dwindling tax revenue from gas and other sources, a bleak economic environment and continued high materials costs are all taking their toll. An anticipated infrastucture-heavy stimulus package from the new Obama administration cannot come soon enough for industry officials.
“In my 30 years in the industry, I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Tom Warne, former Utah Dept. of Transportation chief and founder of Tom Warne and Associates, LLC, South Jordan, Utah. “DOTs have cut back at certain times—for example, during the delays of highway bills—and they get conservative while they wait for the reauthorization to occur. But it is unprecedented this time.”