Highway, Street & Bridge Construction NAICS 237310

Feb 13, 2026 - Slow Spending Growth for Highways, Bridges

• Slower growth in highway, street, and bridge construction spending could affect demand for asphalt products used in road construction. North American construction and engineering spending for roadway projects is expected to grow by 1% in 2026 after slowing an estimated 1% in 2025, according to FMI’s first-quarter 2026 North American Engineering and Construction Outlook. Highway and bridge projects will progress in 2026 as funding through the Biden-era Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act matures. Spending on bridges has risen amid $5 billion in additional funding from the Federal Highway Administration for deficient bridges, but pavement spending has dropped. While surface transportation reauthorization is likely to come before the end of fiscal 2026 in September, the timing and amounts of funding remain uncertain.
• US tariff policy pushed up prices for some construction inputs in 2025, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) analysis of US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Overall, inputs to nonresidential construction - which includes highway, street, and bridge construction - increased 3.2% in December 2025 compared to a year earlier. Price increases for inputs used in highway, street, and bridge construction were mixed. Price growth was muted for concrete products (up 2% year-over-year in December 2025) and prepared asphalt, tar roofing, and siding products (+0.6%). However, prices for hot-rolled steel bars, plates, and structural shapes increased 12.1% in December 2025 compared with a year earlier, and construction sand, gravel, and crushed stone prices rose 6.1%. ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu said, " Construction materials prices posted a welcome decline in December, yet key inputs are still experiencing rapid escalation. This is especially true for materials most exposed to tariffs." Basu added, "Prices for commodities less exposed to tariffs, like asphalt or crushed stone, will likely remain tame in the coming months due to soft demand for construction services. While that may limit increases in overall materials prices, trade policy will continue to put upward pressure on certain materials."

• The construction industry is turning to AI tools and agents to ease project managers’ workloads and prepare for a wave of retirements that could claim 41% of the workforce by 2031, according to the National Center for Construction Research and Education and reporting by The Wall Street Journal. Companies such as Procore, Trimble, and Autodesk are rolling out AI systems that analyze safety risks, summarize documents, extract data, and automate routine tasks, helping address what the Associated Builders and Contractors expect will be a shortage of about 349,000 workers. Startups are using computer vision to track job progress and match workers with open roles, while natural language processing lets superintendents dictate logs and speed daily reporting. Firms say AI can also preserve the expertise of veteran builders by capturing their decision-making and best practices. About 60% of construction companies use some form of AI, but adoption remains uneven.
• In its 2025 Infrastructure Report Card, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave US bridges a grade of C, while roads received a D rating. It's estimated that between 2024 and 2033, roads will have a funding gap of $684 billion, and bridges will have a shortfall of $373 billion. According to a TRIP analysis of Federal Highway Administration data, in 2023, 45% of US roadways were in good condition, while 39% were in poor condition, and 16% were in fair condition. Just under half of US bridges are in fair condition, 44% are in good condition, and about 7% are in poor condition. While the ASCE credits the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act with improving road and bridge conditions over the last few years, ongoing funding and investment levels after 2026 remain uncertain.