Highway, Street & Bridge Construction NAICS 237310

Aug 9, 2025 - Most States Expect Road Maintenance Budget Shortfalls

• A third of US states may not meet their funding needs for achieving their highway and bridge maintenance goals, according to a new report by The Pew Charitable Trusts and reporting by Smart Cities Dive. Partly due to $1.2 trillion in funding through the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, US states increased transportation’s average share of their budgets to 8% in 2024 compared to 6.8% in 2022, according to a recent report by the National Association of State Budget Officers. However, 24 states reported a combined transportation budget shortfall of $86 billion over the next 10 years.
• North American highway and street construction and engineering spending in 2025 is expected to grow by 2% after increasing an estimated 4% in 2024, according to FMI’s third-quarter 2025 North American Engineering and Construction Outlook. Roads and bridges are the largest infrastructure category need through 2023, requiring $3 trillion in investment and an estimated funding gap of $1 trillion, according to a 2025 report by The American Society of Civil Engineers. FMI projects US highway and street engineering and construction spending will rise 2% in 2026, 3% in 2027, 4% in 2028, and 5% in 2029.

• The total value of US highway and street construction put in place rose 0.7% in June 2025 compared to the prior month, according to the US Census Bureau. The value of US highway and street construction increases 4% compared to June 2024. However, June marked the sixth monthly decline in nonresidential construction spending in seven months. In a news release, Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Chief Economist Anirban Basu said, “Given the many headwinds at play, including high interest rates, tight lending standards, elevated uncertainty and the effects of immigration and trade policy on labor and materials costs, spending may struggle to rebound during the second half of the year.”
• The Trump administration's intensified immigration enforcement is straining the U.S. construction workforce, prompting fear among some Hispanic workers, both documented and undocumented, according to construction industry advocacy groups and reporting by Engineering News-Record. Public works projects and large commercial buildings have often been targets for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to the Hispanic Construction Council. Worker advocacy groups support deporting criminals but have called for more humane, workforce-conscious approaches. Their proposals include expanding visa programs and creating temporary legal status pathways, aiming to stabilize the labor supply and sustain critical infrastructure development.