Nervous chatter about supply chain constraints and uncertainty about the post-COVID era was virtually absent among the nearly 60,000 contractors, manufacturers and assorted masonry experts at the World of Concrete held Jan. 23 to 25 in Las Vegas. Equipment makers were filling order books and firms were looking to refresh and expand their fleets as the big spending from recent federal infrastructure initiatives begins to translate into real projects. The atmosphere was upbeat, even as private sector work faces some economic headwinds.
“With a stronger economy than expected, inflation doesn’t come down as fast, and neither do interest rates and those sectors—residential and nonresidential [sectors] get hurt,” said Ed Sullivan, chief economist for the Portland Cement Association. “But other sectors not sensitive to interest rates, like infrastructure spending, [are] expected to show up in a more meaningful way this year and next,” he said, adding that a revitalized U.S. manufacturing sector—buoyed by the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act—is another bright spot for construction.