Article source: ConstructConnect
The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, even though the dollars going towards tangible projects will be slightly less than half that amount (approximately $500 billion), and the spending will be spread out over five years, is no small matter.
Current annual spending on what might be termed ‘hard’ infrastructure (i.e., mainly engineering works such as roads, bridges, transit systems, sewers, watermains, treatment plants, communication systems and power) will be about $350 billion.
Adding in ‘soft’ infrastructure (schools and hospitals) raises the annual ‘actual’ figure close to $500 billion, but educational and medical facilities are not a primary focus of the newly passed package.
The $500 billion mentioned in the opening paragraph relative to $350 billion usually allocated per annum suggests the plan is to squeeze another year-and-a-half’s worth of spending into the next five years.
This will be wonderful stimulus for the segments of construction that lean towards ‘civil’ works but it will also mean that the pressures lifting steel and other key material input prices won’t be easily relieved.
