Happy New Year, and welcome to 2024. I hope this is a banner year for all of us and we see much success up ahead in the aggregates industry.
Public highway, pavement and street construction is expected to grow by double digits for the second consecutive year, increasing 16% to $126 billion in 2024 from $108.6 billion in 2023, according to American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) Chief Economist Alison Premo Black’s annual market outlook.
The increase in construction activity is supported by two factors:
- After two years, many of the projects supported by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) are in the construction phase.
- Many states are increasing their own revenues to match federal funds and make additional transportation investments, using a combination of general fund transfers, bond issues, business taxes, and other user-fee increases.
ARTBA projects the total value of overall transportation construction work, including highways, will grow 14% from $187 billion in 2023 to $214 billion in 2024. This is in line with other market indicators, including ARTBA’s analysis of state department of transportation (DOT) budgets. State DOTs plan to increase highway and bridge capital spending by 13% in Fiscal Year 2024.
Overall construction starts are expected to rise 7% in 2024, following a 1% increase in 2023, said Richard Branch, chief economist at Dodge Construction Network during Dodge’s annual Construction Outlook. The 2023 increase will bring total starts to an estimated $1.124 trillion, with $1.206 trillion forecast for 2024.
The latest data from the U.S. Geological Survey indicates aggregates production will decline in 2023, however the forecast from one of Rock Products’ partners, industry mining consultants Burgex, indicates that the demand for aggregates across the United States is on an upward trajectory. Burgex’s market forecasts further solidify this outlook. “Fast forward five years, and the demand is expected to touch nearly 2.89 billion tons by 2028,” the company said. See their report on page 24.
According to Rock Products columnist Pierre Villere, of Allen-Villere Partners, aggregates production will look even better five years out. Villere projects production of around 3 billion tons by 2028. See The Pulse report on page 20.
All of this is great news as we kick off the year.
Mark S. Kuhar, editor
[email protected]
(330) 722‐4081
Twitter: @editormarkkuhar