Although the Southwest states are still mired in relatively flat growth — as evidenced mainly by year-to-year construction employment stagnation for Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico — light is appearing on the horizon.

In northern Nevada, the under-construction Tesla battery factory is poised to bring life to the industrial areas in and around Reno. Las Vegas is moving again, although maybe not as aggressive as before the bust, but it is on the path upward. The MGM/AEG stadium and Switch SuperNAP NV-9 Data Center, both Las Vegas projects on the preliminary 2014 Top Starts list — see below — are indicative of the broadening breadth of what is trending in the city beyond resorts and casinos.

Infrastructure and roadways are seemingly driving construction in the Southwest, however, with military construction at Air Force bases throughout the region and a plethora of highway projects.

ENR Southwest will publish a ranked listing of the region’s Top Construction Starts in its March 16 edition. To compile the list, we've not only referenced information from Dodge Data & Analytics, but our ongoing coverage of projects in the region. We’ve targeted projects with a valuation of at least $30 million in our research.

Our preliminary list in alphabetical order is below.

To ensure the list is as complete as possible, we invite you to submit notable regional projects not seen below — from the three-state region of Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico — that broke ground last year and are valued at more than $30 million, to john.guzzon@construction.com. When suggesting a project, please indicate the name, location, construction cost, construction start date (month/year), owner and builder, as well as the project's projected finish date. Please submit the information no later than Feb. 25.