City Grill

Russ Hanson
Executive Vice President
AGC of North Dakota

“After a couple of years of a softer construction economy following the record-setting investment made during the oil boom of 2017-19, North Dakota construction is slowly ticking upward, with a modest year-over-year increase,” Hanson says. “There is great optimism for the construction economy in future years as a result of HB 1066 passing in the 2019 Legislature. This legislation, known as Operation Prairie Dog, will provide a portion of oil tax revenue to fund nine critically defined construction projects, with funding going to the non-oil producing cities, counties and townships in the same manner that oil-producing cities, counties and townships have received it over the past several years. Projections, which may be conservative, estimate approximately $250 million in revenue will be available as a result of HB 1066. An area of concern is the amount budgeted for the ND Department of Transportation, which received no additional state funding to accompany the state match of federal funds for its construction program. Its funding remains about the same as in previous years.”