State DOTs and their contractors face more volatile commodity costs, labor force challenges, supply chain disruptions, and economic uncertainty than in the last two decades. Current trends in SAASHTO-area funding and market impacts are particularly dynamic. Long-term modeling of historic bids has identified how and to what extent various factors – labor availability, energy costs, work program spending, import volumes, and others – have impacted bids over the past 30 years. This talk will describe how these forces are likely to shape short- and longer-term construction cost estimates, materials availability, trends, and bidding behavior in practical terms.

Speaker:
Valerie Seidel, The Balmoral Group, President and Principal Economist