Building Toward the Future: Steel Products Stand to Benefit from Infrastructure Upswing

The following is an excerpt from Steel Times International (read the full article). 

Building Toward the Future
The lack of momentum currently witnessed in the North American infrastructure sector, is not necessarily a marker of decline, but of better times ahead. By Myra Pinkham

October 9, 2024

WHILE US infrastructure construction activity has been stronger than that for private construction, at least at this point, it hasn’t been picking up quite as rapidly as many had anticipated. This comes as recently passed federal legislation that is seen as being supportive of the
infrastructure sector has not kicked in as quickly as expected.

Once it does, it is also expected to be very supportive of the kinds of steel products used in infrastructure construction projects, including such steel long products as steel reinforcing bar (or rebar), structural steel, merchant bar and wire rod, as well as steel plate.

“The overall US non-residential construction market has slowed somewhat this year much as we expected it would do,” given the inflationary environment and high interest rates, Philip Gibbs, a senior equity research analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets said. That, however, has varied by sector, Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) noted, pointing out that certain types of non-residential buildings construction, such as of data centres, manufacturing plants, power plants, solar/alternative energy projects, overall infrastructure, and other public works construction, has been faring better than private non-residential construction.

And while he said that, broadly, US construction contractors working on infrastructure projects are busy, there has been some variation in the year-on-year infrastructure construction spending. This, Simonson said, has been tapering off in recent months, even though it has been three years since the passage of the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA) bipartisan infrastructure bill, which is expected to eventually bolster US infrastructure construction spending.

He noted that, based upon data from the US Census Bureau, highway and street construction spending in June was up 6% year-over-year, transportation infrastructure (including rail, truck and mass transit) up 3% year-over-year, sewage and waste construction spending up 6%, water supply construction spending up 10%, and conservation and development construction spending up 5% year-over-year.

Dan Snyder, vice president of construction at the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) noted that about $40 billion of IIJA funds will be used to repair or replace as many as 15,000 bridges with states being required to use at least 15% of that new money to build ‘off system’ or short-span bridges. He pointed out that short-span bridges account for almost half of the National Bridge Inventory.

Read the full article from Steel Times International

SSSBA is Here to Help!

The American steel industry is able to meet the demand challenges and opportunities generated through the IIJA. The Short Span Steel Bridge Alliance (SSSBA) provides tools, expertise and educational resources to convert plans into projects. For more information, please explore the SSSBA website or contact Dan Snyder at dsnyder@steel.org