Highway, road, and bridge construction industry

Industry Snapshot

GENERAL INDUSTRY: Architecture and Construction

CAREER CLUSTER: Architecture and Construction

SUBCATEGORY INDUSTRIES: Airport Runway Construction; Bridge Construction; Highway, Elevated Highway, Causeway, and Parkway Construction; Highway, Road, Street, Bridge, and Airport Runway Repair and Resurfacing; Overpass and Underpass Construction; Public Sidewalk Construction; Road and Street Construction; Tunnel Construction

RELATED INDUSTRIES:Building Architecture Industry; Building Construction Industry; Civil Services: Planning; Federal Public Administration; Landscaping Services; Local Public Administration

ANNUAL DOMESTIC REVENUES:US$15.7 billion (First Research, 2023)

ANNUAL GLOBAL REVENUES:US$911.4 billion (Global Newswire, 2023)

NAICS NUMBERS: 2373, 237990

Summary

The highway, road, and bridge construction industry is dedicated to new work, reconstruction, rehabilitation, and repairs of land-based infrastructure for land transportation. It builds and maintains land-based bridges, elevated highways, roads and streets, public sidewalks, guardrails, and related structures, as well as airport runways. Industry crews also paint and repaint roads and fill potholes. The worldwide industry may be broken into several sectors because of significant differences in required equipment and skills, among other inputs.

History of the Industry

The first roads were paths created by animals that pushed and trampled through specific areas, creating clearings for humans to follow. The first stone-paved street is said to have been built in the Middle East around 4000 BCE. On the British Isles, corduroy roads or log roads were also built around 4000 BCE. Brick roads in India date from 3000 BCE. The Romans are considered to have had the best roadways of the ancient civilizations, inspiring the saying "All roads lead to Rome."

The Roman army was responsible for the empire's road construction and maintenance. The workforce typically comprised slaves and convicts. Toward the end of the Roman Empire, construction ceased and maintenance became the primary concern, with the burden of maintaining roadways placed on private citizens.

Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne (771–814 CE) helped develop European roadways and bridges. He appointed officials whose sole task was to organize road construction. Charlemagne required all citizens to work on road or bridge maintenance if there were insufficient slave laborers or prisoners of war. This system was known as corvée.

Road paving became a reputable artisan craft around the thirteenth century. Pavers were members of one of the earliest artisan guilds, the stonemasons. By 1502, apprentices were common. The English Highway Act of 1555 placed the obligation of road maintenance on parishes and required parishioners to devote four days a year to the corvée system. Workers were expected to have their own equipment. Unpaid people in each parish were put in charge of inspecting the roads as surveyors. By 1570, the first official road construction and maintenance contracts were formed.

John Loudon McAdam revolutionized road making when he created macadam. Macadam stones could be broken into pieces and manipulated as necessary by women or children. Thus, road maintenance and construction ceased to be the sole province of strong men.

City roads in the 1700s were deplorable. The craft of stone paving was time-consuming, labor-intensive, and expensive. In the United States, slaves were often used for roadwork, and once emancipation occurred, convicts were used for roadwork instead. In the 1800s, the United States saw a move toward centralizing control of roadwork. In 1802, the US Army Corps of Engineers was created and located at West Point. In the 1870s, Washington, DC, established an asphalt-paving program that met with great success, and in 1891, the New Jersey Board of Agriculture was given authority to create roads connecting farms and markets. Massachusetts, in 1893, became the first state to create a road authority, when it created a highway commission. The next year, New Jersey followed suit, giving the power to create roads to the Commission of Public Roads. In 1912, the American Highway Association (AHA) was created out of the American Association for Highway Improvement (formed in 1910), but it disbanded in 1916 under the pressure of competition from the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. By 1920, all American states had highway organizations.

After World War I, American travel increased and roads deteriorated. The U.S. Highway Research Board was established. In 1921, the Federal Aid Highway Act gave each state funding for up to 7 percent of highway work and the federal government met half the cost. The act marked the beginning of the US national highway system.

The Industry Today

The slice of the architecture and construction market of which the contemporary highway, road, and bridge construction industry is part allows for a great deal of competition, particularly in its ability to diversify and work in niche areas. Company sizes range from one-person operations—which are no longer required to belong to a guild, though there are unions—to companies with thousands of employees. There are very few clients in this industry—most of them are federal agencies or major private-sector buyers—but these clients often announce jobs for which companies must bid to win contracts. Companies are very dependent on the economic market, and there is little loyalty to a particular company except, perhaps, in the private sector, where a company's reputation and previous work are taken into account when a bid is made or announced.

Construction projects vary in size, from minor road maintenance to major highway construction. Many times, subcontractors are hired by primary contractors, either because of their specialized skills or because the job is so large. One-person operations typically subcontract work, saving on expenses by renting necessary equipment and engaging labor as needed, instead of paying for constant upkeep, taxes, and salaries. Midsize companies may work from office buildings and typically have several full-time employees, allowing such companies to take on slightly larger or longer jobs. The largest of companies operate offices worldwide, with multiple employees from the administrative level down. These large companies bid on long-term and more complex projects.

Financing to pay transportation construction companies comes from one of three sources: public money raised through general taxes or borrowing in the form of bonds; private investors or landowners wanting to create a road to increase the value of their land; or tolls, fuel taxes, and vehicles taxes and licenses. The American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARBTA), started in 1902, is one of the most well-known national transportation construction associations, and there are several associations made of lobbyists such as ARBTA that exist to cultivate and protect investment within the industry. Instead of guilds for industry interests, there are now multiple associations and boards. In 1991, the United States joined the Permanent International Association of Road Congresses (PIARC), an international group founded in France that represents government road authorities and acts as a forum for discussion on industry standards and issues.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is one group that provides assessments that shed light on the modern highway and road construction industry. Like many other groups, it reported on the declining state of much US infrastructure in the 2010s. The Transportation Construction Coalition is another organization that keeps track of current issues within the industry, from expired bills that remove funding from construction to congressional acts that need further support in order to create more jobs.

The industry suffered significantly from the late 2000s recession. However, it was also a focus of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by the administration of President Joseph Biden, so it subsequently experienced influxes of government funding for crucial projects. The impact of these large-scale economic trends continues to be felt throughout the industry.

Industry Outlook

Overview

The outlook for this industry shows it to be on the rise domestically as well as globally. Much US infrastructure is in significant disrepair, so theoretical demand for the industry's services is extremely high. However, funding to repair the infrastructure is not always available, so practical demand often lags behind theoretical demand.

Because its services are needed but not always affordable, the transportation construction industry is an indicator of economic conditions, as well as of population growth, in the United States and worldwide. Federal Highway Administration research shows the relationship between the economy and the highway industry, suggesting that investment in highway, road, and bridge construction is important to economic growth. Worldwide, the industry facilitates surface transportation, which in turn facilitates mobility and is therefore an integral part of life; providing jobs, permitting travelers to go further to consume and spend on products, and moving consumer goods increases productivity and supports the economy. Everyone uses infrastructure, from regular citizens to the military. Increased growth within the industry is expected, particularly in the areas of maintenance and repair.

Tourism is also intimately linked with infrastructure: The tourism industry offers taxes and other support to the highway industry as it is in the tourism industry's best interest to have maintenance and repairs ongoing in order to allow for easier and smoother access to specific destinations whose economies rely on tourists. Other intimately connected industries include construction equipment and materials.

As a large portion of industry workers, especially those of the baby boomer generation, retire or leave, skilled and experienced trade workers will be in demand. Furthermore, as technology rapidly develops, those within the industry who have technological skills and are up-to-date with the latest developments will be in high demand. New entrants into the industry who have stable backgrounds, such as retired military personnel, can expect excellent job prospects. Certain skill sets, licenses, or experience will be needed for most jobs.

Employment growth within the office sector of the industry will continue to be limited, as automation replaces many of the human components. Overall, the number of available jobs fluctuates, as these jobs are dependent on the economy. Currently, there is a great deal of competition within the industry for jobs, particularly at the entry level. According to the BLS, those laborers with limited skills will experience the most competition, while those with specialized skills or experience and those who are able to relocate as necessary will have the most opportunities. Companies and individual employees familiar with green trends are expected to be in high demand as a result of environmental initiatives.

Employment Advantages

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in 2022, employment in the highway, street, and bridge construction industry was expected to remain flat overall. In 2022 the BLS forecast construction laborers and helpers in general to see 4 percent employment growth over the next ten years, while growth for construction equipment operators was forecast at 3 percent, which is average.

Jobs over the next decade are nearly assured with continued voting by citizens and legislators approving spending on road construction. Positions and employment for construction managers is an anticipated growth area resulting from the many new projects in development, as well as because of the increasingly complex nature of infrastructure construction and the accompanying legal and regulatory environment.

Annual Earnings

The highway, road, and bridge construction industry is inextricably linked with the economy in its ups and downs. The industry in the United States saw estimated revenues of $130 billion as of 2023, according to Statista. Another market research company, IBISWorld, estimated the US road and highway construction industry to have annual revenues of $160.9 billion as of 2023, with the bridge and elevated highway construction industry separately valued at $15.7 billion. Meanwhile, the global highway, road, and bridge construction industry was valued at approximately $911.4 billion in 2023, as cited by Global Newswire.

Bibliography

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