New ARTBA Dashboard Tracks Construction Materials Trends

What happened: ARTBA’s economics team has centralized national data for key inputs and commodities used by the transportation construction industry in a unique interactive dashboard. This resource will help ensure all partners on transportation construction projects – both public and private – better understand the extent of recent materials costs spikes. It is a product of the ARTBA Construction Forum’s work group on materials costs and availability, which has been meeting for several months to raise awareness of these market forces, share strategies for addressing the problem and advocate for equitable solutions between public owners and contractors.

Why it matters: Since late 2020, the transportation construction industry has confronted unprecedented pandemic-related cost increases and often-limited availability for key commodities and materials. Many ARTBA chapters and members have expressed the need for data specific to transportation construction as a means of facilitating better mutual understanding of these challenges. The national data in the new dashboard includes a series of indices from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to measure relative price changes. Dashboard users can also customize the data to see trends for specific commodities. It is important to note that while ARTBA’s new dashboard features national data, some state and regional markets have experienced even more exaggerated increases in costs and delivery time for these materials.

What’s next: ARTBA will continue working with its affiliated chapters to share knowledge about addressing these materials challenges. As an example, the Florida Transportation Builders’ Association is negotiating a series of specification changes for this purpose. (See ALUMINUM, PVC, AND COPPER MATERIAL and STEEL GUARDRAIL MATERIAL.) ARTBA and its coalition partners will also continue advocating for use of federal COVID-relief funds to alleviate significant supply chain effects on projects.