Sources: International Code Council, Washington, D.C.; CP staff The International Code Council salutes provisions in the just-signed Inflation Reduction Act that will help communities update building energy codes and promote low-carbon construction materials. Building on last year’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, ICC notes, the new law: • Serves up $1 billion to support codes and standards or local amendments…
Read MoreSources: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; CP staff EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox recently joined agency colleagues, state and local officials to kick off the Clean Water Act 50th Anniversary celebration tour. Culminating in mid-October, it will highlight waters that are essential to healthy people, vibrant ecosystems, agricultural productivity, and economic growth, with stops including the Florida Everglades, Chesapeake…
Read MoreAssociated Builders and Contractors member contractors invested $1.6 billion to provide more than 1.3 million course attendees with craft, leadership and safety education in 2021, up from $1.3 billion in 2020. The group’s 2022 Workforce Development Survey quantifies the scope of member initiatives to advance their employees’ commercial and industrial construction careers. Safety education accounted for the greatest share, or…
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Construction materials testing equipment and technology provider Forney LP is preparing release of a ForneyVault-AASHTOWare Project Construction & Materials interface to state departments of transportation. Linking its signature platform and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials software suite, the company notes, “Drives increased transparency, productivity and efficiency—especially pertinent for DOT labs today in light of the Infrastructure…
Read Moreby Pierre G. Villere We like to read the in-depth research on a wide range of topics that can affect the economic health of our industry, since it is our firm’s primary specialty. In the years I have been at the helm, I find the reports published by the global banks to be informative, and usually spot-on. They have large…
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration were set for center stage this year thanks to Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding and contract activity. Yet a sister agency with its $75 billion building and pavement contracting budget is stealing some of the thunder. The General Services Administration is capturing attention with its Low Embodied Carbon Concrete Standards…
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The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is the most important piece of transportation legislation since the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs Michele Stanley noted upon the $1 trillion funding package’s late-2021 passage. “At the core of the legislation is a five-year, $304 billion reauthorization of our…
Read MoreSources: U.S. Department of Transportation; CP staff The Federal Highway Administration confirms a 20 percent increase in funding apportioned to the 50 states and District of Columbia: $52.5 billion for fiscal year 2022, versus $42 billion for 2021 (October 2020-September 2021). Annual funding the agency disburses for the Federal-aid Highway Program is based on a statutory formula contained in the…
Read MoreFinally. After months of wrangling and tortuous back-and forth, Congress finally passed our big infrastructure bill, and the President signed it. Thank goodness. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the IIJA, holds much promise for a nation that had been woefully short on maintaining its transportation, environmental and utility infrastructure. But there is a long history of…
Read MoreSources: National Stone Sand & Gravel Association, Alexandria, Va.; American Road & Transportation Builders Association, Washington, D.C.; Rock Products staffNational Stone, Sand & Gravel Association Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs Michele Stanley calls the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, subject of a November 15 White House signing ceremony, the most important piece of transportation legislation since the Interstate…
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