Pit & Quarry, February 2012

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT Outlook mixed for 2012 transportation construction The outlook for the 2012 transportation construction market is mixed the American Road Transportation Builders Associations ARTBA senior economist said in releasing her annual economic forecast during a webinar for Wall Street analysts and construction industry executives The highway and bridge construction market is expected to contract by 6 percent to 726 billion from an estimated 77 billion in 2011 according to ARTBAs Alison Premo Black The main factors driving the decline in highway and bridge construction are not surprising the winding down of infrastructure investment under the American Recovery Reinvestment Act ARRA continued weak growth in the U S economy persistent state and local budget challenges and a static federal aid highway program Black says Black cautions the long delayed highway transit reauthorization bill remains a wild card If Congress passes a multi year bill that at minimum maintains current investment levels it could help interject greater certainty in the market Both the Senate and House proposals also contain language to expand the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act TIFIA which if leveraged quickly could offer another market boost she says The railroad market driven largely by private sector investment is expected to increase by nearly 4 percent and the value of construction for ports and waterways is expected to grow by 6 percent driven by work on both coasts in preparation for the 2014 expansion of the Panama Canal according to the ARTBA forecast The transportation construction market sector will remain the most stable industry sector as it has been for the past five years ARTBA says Between 2007 and 2011 the real value of highway and bridge construction adjusted with the ARTBA Price Index for material prices wages and inflation fell only 10 percent Over the same period the real value of total construction work in the U S fell by one third from 11 trillion to an estimated 769 billion And the real value of residential construction tanked more than 50 percent from 5005 billion in 2007 to 2365 billion in 2011 ARTBAs 2012 forecast for other transportation modes Bridges The value of bridge work is expected to drop by 10 percent from 263 billion to 236 billion primarily because nearly all of the projects that include ARRA investments are finished or under way and state local DOTs are Solid productivity Introducing the Metso C120 jaw The new Metso C120 jaw is built for maximum productivity in challenging quarry mining and large scale contracting jobs Crusher cavity kinematics and operating parameters have been refined and optimized to deliver the lowest cost per ton of end product With proven availability and uptime you can rely on Metsos equipment and reputation Theyre both rock solid minerals nam@ metso com www metso com Visit us at Booth 910 10 PIT QUARRY February 2012 www pitandquarry com