The amount contractors pay for construction materials and charge for completed projects both increased in July, as firms were finally able to charge more for work, according to an analysis of producer price index figures by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said, however, that it was too early ...

The industry group Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) reports that its Construction Backlog Indicator (CBI), which measures the amount of construction work under contract to be completed in the future, increased 10 percent in the second quarter of 2011 to an average of 8.1 months, up from 7.3 months the previous ...

Going to bat for the construction industry, Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman appeared on CNBC and called for U.S. policymakers to create and fund a strong program to maintain and improve the nation's transportation infrastructure. Caterpillar is based in Peoria, Ill., and has many of its key factories in that ...

(Adapted from ohsonline.com) OSHA has levied proposed penalties totaling $73,000 have been against NPL Construction Co. for two safety violations for exposing workers to excavation hazards while connecting an underground natural gas line in Auburn, Ala. The citations resulted from an April inspection. NPL Construction is a Phoenix-based pipeline construction company employing about ...

(From appeal-democrat.com) The California Transportation Commission has allocated $2.2 billion in new funding, including $41.5 million for a long-awaited, long-term road rehabilitation project planned for Yuba County. Drainage and electrical work is expected to begin in the spring, with primary road construction to start a year later. Proposition 1B, a 2006 voter-approved transportation ...

(From fxstreet.com) After a strong showing in the first half of the year, Canadian housing starts showed no signs of letting up, rising 4% in July to an above-consensus 205.1K units (from a downwardly revised 196.6K in June). All the gains were in multiples (up 13% to 120.2K), while single family ...

(From a news release by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.) The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have developed first-of-their-kind fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas pollution standards for work trucks, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles. The recently announced standards are expected to save American businesses that ...

Florida Gov. Rick Scott is proposing a major transportation plan that calls for speeding up road projects and relying on new tolls to help pay for them. The plan was recently unveiled by the state's transportation chief. Although Florida already has a series of toll roads and has begun adding toll ...

The idea of creating an infrastructure bank to leverage federal funds and funnel private investments into U.S. roads, bridges, transit and railways, has gained support from an influential private organization. The group Building America’s Future recently release a report: “Falling Apart and Falling Behind,” and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, one of ...

(As reported by bloomberg.com.) U.S. home values in the second quarter had their smallest decline in more than four years, as the share of borrowers with negative equity shrunk. During the period April through June, 26.8% of single-family homeowners with mortgages owed more than their houses were worth, compared with 28.4% in the previous ...

The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have issued a preliminary notice of proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards. The proposal would allow full-size pickup trucks, some of the biggest sellers for Detroit's automakers, to meet less stringent standards than cars from 2017 to 2021. The standards ...

About 3,000 construction workers will be employed to build a $500 million development on the Las Vegas Strip that will include a 550-foot, Ferris-wheel-like observation wheel and a restaurant-entertainment district linking two existing resorts, according to a report by lasvegassun.com. Work is expected to begin within weeks and be completed in 18 ...