ForConstructionPros.com

The 2008 transportation ballot initiative results demonstrate continued strong public support for transportation investment for the third straight election. There were 30 state and local ballot initiatives in 2006. Of the 27 asking voters to increase revenue for transportation infrastructure, 77 percent, valued at over $40 billion, were approved. In 2004, voters supported $28 billion for transportation investment through 55 ballot initiatives. Thirty-six initiatives — representing 78 percent of the bond and tax measures — were approved.

The ARTBA report on the 2008 elections can be found online at www.artba.org./ballot.

Transportation can spur job creation
ARTBA Economist reports to Congress

The transportation construction industry’s chief economist has outlined a program of quick-start projects that, with new federal investment, could immediately help spur job creation and economic recovery across the nation.

In testimony before the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, Dr. William Buechner, vice president of economics and research for the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), noted that, “U.S. construction workers have, so far, borne the brunt of the current economic crisis.”

Noting that the unemployment rate in the construction industry during September was 9.9 percent — almost four percentage points higher than that for the economy as a whole—Buechner said ARTBA’s quarterly survey of transportation construction contractors found 60 percent reported they had fewer employees in the third quarter of this year than during the same quarter in 2007.

“Our industry has the capacity to take on additional work immediately,” he explains. “Our latest market conditions survey found only three percent of respondents operating at full capacity during the third quarter. Thirty six percent report they are now operating at 75 percent of capacity or less. This is up from 27 percent in the second quarter and the highest in the history of our survey,” Buechner added.