Halfway Into IIJA, Federal Investment Contributing to Record Market

What happened: Federal investment halfway through the five-year Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) enacted in November 2021 has helped support record levels of highway and bridge construction – despite supply chain issues, rising material prices, and labor costs.

Over the first 30 months, IIJA investment helped support significant increases in contract awards, highway and bridge contractor employment, and construction activity. ARTBA’s analysis shows that there’s still a lot of IIJA investment to come. Of the $179 billion in available formula funds through Fiscal Year 2024, $130 billion (73 percent) had been committed to projects through April. These commitments also include any obligated discretionary funding. An additional $124 billion in formula funds will be distributed to states over the next two fiscal years. That leaves more than $173 billion in formula funds still to be committed over the life of IIJA.

Go deeper: For more detail on the flow of IIJA funds and real market impacts through the halfway point, check out the latest Transportation Builder magazine article here.

Chart source: Data from U.S. Treasury and the Federal Highway Administration. Project commitments are included from the base year of the award, identified in the U.S. Treasury data . Does not include COVID relief, emergency, or supplemental funds. FY2022 totals include project commitments made using FAST Act extension funds, to provide a full year on year comparison of total projects supported by the federal aid highway program. Total obligations and reimbursements are pooled across both formula and discretionary programs.