ARTBA Promotes Awareness of Market Realities at Cost Conference

ARTBA continued to raise awareness of transportation construction market realities by co-hosting a conference on construction costs in St. Louis, Missouri, on September 11.  Representatives of more than 25 state departments of transportation joined industry professionals and academics to hear from and interact with a full roster of expert speakers, including federal and state transportation officials, industry economists, suppliers and contractors. 

Charles Lovorn

Since the spike in steel prices in early 2004, ARTBA has actively sought opportunities to highlight these issues before various audiences.  Working with ARTBA and the other sponsoring organizations, King Gee, associate administrator for infrastructure at the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), conceived of the one-day conference as a means for the private and public sectors to share information about rising materials prices and other factors that have increased project costs.  Besides ARTBA, co-hosts of the conference included FHWA, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Associated General Contractors of America. 

Dr. Bill Buechner

Dr. Bill Buechner, ARTBA vice president of economics and research, led off the opening panel with a detailed look at the funding mechanisms of the federal highway program and their eroding purchasing power.  Supplier representatives from the petroleum, steel and aggregates industries followed with a series of presentations that showed the various factors – including international demand – that affect the price and availability of their products.  It was noted that specifications for various construction inputs can vary widely among state and local transportation agencies, potentially adding costs for particular projects.

Bob Burleson

The second panel included state DOT and industry speakers from Florida, Texas and Missouri, to discuss their respective cost-savings efforts.  Industry representatives included Bob Burleson of the Florida Transportation Builders’ Association and Bob Lanham of Williams Brothers Construction in Houston, Texas, who serves on ARTBA’s Board of Directors.  AASHTO’s Jim McDonnell also shared the results of a new survey of state DOTs on costs and competition.

Ken Aldridge

ARTBA Contractors Division President Ken Aldridge of Aldridge Electric moderated the luncheon session featuring Federal Reserve Bank Economist Kevin Kliesen.  During the afternoon, the 125 participants broke into four discussion groups whose agenda included reactions to the earlier presentations and developing collaborative lists of practices that drive project costs up or down.  ARTBA Council of State Executives Chairman Charles Lovorn of the Kentucky Association of Highway Contractors led one of the break-out groups. 

Cost conference participants spoke very favorably about their experience.  Said Aldridge, “There was great information shared all day.  This is exactly the type of thing that ARTBA should be doing.”

Conference co-hosts are now working on a final report to be distributed widely by the four organizations.  It will be posted here when available.

Click on the following to see selected conference presentations:

For more information contact ARTBA’s Rich Juliano at 202-289-4434 or by e-mail.