ARTBA Chair Joins Sec. Duffy to Build Momentum for Surface Transportation Reauthorization
What happened: ARTBA Chairman Jeff Nelson of David
Nelson Construction July 17 urged the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)
to pursue sensible reforms during a roundtable discussion with Transportation
Secretary Sean Duffy on surface transportation reauthorization.
Duffy told Nelson and other transportation construction
industry stakeholders the administration wants to focus on project delivery
improvements and reiterated his desire to build more with less money. Nelson
highlighted ARTBA’s reauthorization priorities, including Buy America
regulations, making work zones safer, concerns with the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration’s pending heat rule and the need for growing, not
decreasing, investment.
The roundtable was followed by a rally at DOT headquarters
that featured construction equipment courtesy of ARTBA member Wagman, Inc. The
event launched the administration’s reauthorization effort and
featured speakers included members of Congress. Senior DOT officials touted the
opening of a portal for citizens to submit reauthorization recommendations.
Why it’s important: The House and Senate have already
begun the surface transportation reauthorization process well in advance of
current law’s Sept. 30, 2026 deadline. Having the administration pushing
for a new law to be enacted on time should prove helpful.
What’s next: ARTBA staff July 9 briefed Federal Highway
Administration officials on the association’s reauthorization priorities and
will continue working with the administration and Congress to advance the
industry’s goals.
Construction costs rise as tariff clock ticks
Construction
input prices ticked up 0.2% in June, driven by increases in key
materials such as copper and fabricated structural metal products, according to
an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics’ Producer Price Index data.
Input costs now sit 2.1% higher overall and 2.5% higher for
nonresidential construction compared to a year ago, according to the report.
Through the first half of 2025, nonresidential prices climbed at a 6%
annualized rate.
The June data predates the steepest tariffs set to take effect Aug. 1, leaving contractors bracing for more volatility as additional duties loom.
Contractors absorbed another round
of steady cost increases in June, even before the most aggressive
tariffs take hold later this summer, according to the Associated General
Contractors of America.
Aluminum mill shapes climbed 6.3% over the past year, steel
mill products rose 5.1% and lumber and wood products increased 4.8%, according
to the report. More extreme increases hit certain structural steel components,
including a 22.5% spike in fabricated metal for bridges and 8.3% for bar joists
and rebar.
“The fact that construction materials prices are rising even
before the steepest proposed tariffs have taken effect doesn’t bode well for
what will happen in August if the promised new tariffs are implemented,” said
Ken Simonson, AGC chief economist. “Rising construction costs and economic
uncertainty are already causing some owners to put projects on hold, which will
only get worse if costs jump again.”
The Trump administration raised steel
and aluminum tariffs to 50% last month and plans to impose a
similar 50%
duty on copper on Aug. 1. Broader
import restrictions also still remain under consideration.
“Nonresidential input price escalation has accelerated in
2025,” said Basu. “While it is unclear how and when trade policy will affect
construction materials prices, the impact was evident in June’s CPI release.”
Nevertheless, Basu said many contractors
remain upbeat about their margins. That outlook may reflect federal
tax changes under the One
Big Beautiful Bill Act, which made 100% bonus depreciation permanent and
helped offset some pressure from rising input costs.
“Economic
uncertainty remains extraordinarily elevated,” said Basu. “What is all
but certain is that the Federal Reserve will not be cutting interest rates at
its July meeting. Despite higher-for-longer interest rates and rising input
prices, contractors remain relatively optimistic.”
Still, AGC officials warn confidence may erode if
tariff-driven increases persist. If costs spike too sharply, more developers
may choose to delay or cancel projects outright, according to the report.
“The construction industry is poised to benefit from greater
tax certainty as well as the administration’s efforts to streamline permitting
and reduce needless regulatory burdens,” said AGC CEO Jeffrey Shoaf in the
release. “Finding a way to provide greater certainty on materials prices is the
best way to make sure the new tax and regulatory approach have the best
possible impact on economic activity.”
New Haven approves 150-room downtown hotel, though possible bar creates pushback
NEW HAVEN — The City Plan Commission approved an application
for 150-room extended stay hotel with a restaurant that will be built
at the site of an old laundromat.
A Pennsylvania-based
developer's Residence Inn proposal for Park Street between George and Crown
Streets was approved in 3-1. It will build a six-story hotel at the
site of a vacant laundromat and medical services office, which will be knocked
down.
The vote came after a public hearing, which had been
requested by commissioner Alder Adam Marchand, D-25. Marchand, who at a June
meeting said he wanted to respect the wishes of his aldermanic colleague Frank
Douglass, D-2, in granting the hearing, was the lone vote against the proposal.
“I feel a little bit uncomfortable,” Marchand said. "It
has not been definitively demonstrated that this would comply with the parking
requirements for a hotel that has a restaurant in it.”
The primary issue for residents testifying against the
proposal, most who identified themselves as being affiliated with New Haven
Rising or local unions, was the proposal to include a bar in the hotel's lobby
because of the potential implications the required license would have on
minimum parking requirements.
Attorney Carolyn Kone, who represented the application
before the commission, said the specific liquor license is irrelevant, because
the 75 parking spaces included in the plan satisfy any minimum requirement.
"Under any scenario this restaurant complies with New
Haven zoning,” she said.
One feature of the plan approved Wednesday is that the bar
area would be separated by a locking door, making it separate from the
rest of the hotel for the purposes of licensing.
Marchand said his support for the application would be
contingent upon confirmation about whether the hotel bar would be licensed as a
hotel bar or as a restaurant because of the different implications for parking.
Kone said she'd be unable to receive that information
without an approved site plan.
City Plan Director Laura Brown said the proposal to make
approval contingent upon the liquor commission was without precedent, to her
knowledge.
"I don't know if in the past we have ever checked with
the liquor commission prior to zoning compliance to ensure that a liquor permit
could’ve been attained based on a certain type of use,” she said. “I stand by
our staff report," which recommended approval of the application.
Marchand said he did not intend on voting the application
down on Wednesday, but he wanted to further delay the application to receive
more information.
At the commission's June meeting, commissioners
Leslie Radcliffe and Joshua Hoesen voted against having a public hearing
on the application, arguing that the application adhered to the city's zoning
regulations. Commissioner Joy Gary, who voted in favor of the public hearing in
June, sided with Radcliffe and Van Hoesen in approving the application
Wednesday.
The units will have kitchen, dining, living room and bedroom
areas and are aimed at people visiting for work — such as traveling nurses — or
experiencing hardships, including patients or families of patients at the
nearby hospital and families who can't be at their homes due to flooding, fire
or other disasters.
Developer proposes 92 apartments across from sub base
Kimberly Drelich
Groton — A developer is proposing 92 apartments across from
the Naval Submarine Base to accommodate an increasing demand for housing from
Electric Boat workers and the Naval Submarine Base.
The proposal from Crystal Lake LLC, whose principal is Josh
Poitras, calls for two three-story buildings of 14,120 square feet and 13,130
square feet. The development would include a clubhouse, storage building, pool,
grilling area, fire pit and walking trail, according to the application.
The Planning and Zoning Commission discussed the
applications last week and continued a public hearing on a special permit
application until Aug. 12. The site plan application will also be on that
meeting's agenda.
Project attorney Bill Sweeney said the proposed apartment
complex at 0 Crystal Lake Road responds to the need for new multifamily housing
to serve the expansion of Electric Boat and support the submarine base. He
cited that Groton's 2021 housing market study, updated in 2023, identified the
need for up
to about 6,500 new housing units in the greater Groton area.
Sweeney said the developer worked closely with the Navy and
though the development will not be Navy housing, many service members are
looking for high-quality housing in Groton, especially close to where they
work.
The Planning and Zoning Commission in January had approved
another housing complex, with 54 apartments, at 1002 Route 12, across from the
base.
Sweeney pointed out the Crystal Lake Road project is also
located across from the submarine base, with an auto repair facility to the
immediate west and not far from the Submarine Force Library and Museum. To the
south and through a wooded area is a neighborhood of single-family homes, and
to the east there are rental apartments along Crystal Lake Road.
The 8.4-acre project site, located within a Commercial,
Neighborhood zone and the Nautilus Memorial Design District overlay zone, is
steep and there is evidence of past excavation work. He said it also has a
limited inland wetlands area, including a manmade one that will be filled with
approval from the Inland Wetlands Agency.
The site had a previous zoning approval from 1999 for a
multi-unit development that was never built, he said. That approval has since
expired.
Sweeney acknowledged recent public discussion over
residential development in town and concerns over whether there is enough
public space and facilities to support these projects. But he pointed out the
Crystal Lake Road site was previously approved for multi-unit dwellings and its
topography and location makes it appropriate for little else than residential
development.
He added the development has few direct residential
neighbors and the developer worked closely with the Navy to ensure the project
integrates within the neighborhood and meets the Navy's needs.
When reviewing a traffic analysis, commission member Hal Zod
raised concerns over the impact of drivers making a left turn out of the
development during morning rush hour to go the submarine base, and whether the
road or the timing of the lights would need to be improved to accommodate that.
Sweeney said a traffic engineer will provide an opinion to
certify the site's ability to accommodate the drivers taking that turn or
determine whether the plan needs to be tweaked.
State DOT gives Stamford $1.43 million to replace Old Long Ridge Road bridge
STAMFORD — The city recently received a grant of $1.43
million to help pay for the replacement of an aging bridge on Old Long Ridge
Road.
The small bridge, which is about 500 feet north of LaRocca's
Country Market, runs over the east branch of the Mianus River in Stamford. It was
originally constructed in 1940, according to City Engineer Lou Casolo.
Casolo said the city submitted a grant application to the
state in May and received a conditional commitment from the state Department of
Transportation to fund 50% of the eligible costs.
Based on the initial application to the DOT, the total
budget for the project is $2.87 million.
An inspection report attached to that application includes a
line titled "structure evaluation" in which the bridge receives a
grade of two — indicating critical condition — and is described as
"intolerable requiring high priority of replacement."
The work would include removing the existing bridge and
replacing it with a new precast concrete structure while reconstructing about
70 feet of roadway.
"The city is currently in the process of requesting
local funding authorization and procuring a bridge designer for a project scope
to replace the structure due to its condition," Casolo wrote, in an
emailed statement.
He added that the bridge — typically a two lane street — is
currently reduced to carrying one lane of alternating traffic using a stop
control. Once the replacement is complete, the structure will go back to
accommodating two lanes of opposing traffic.
"Following the completion of the design and obtaining
of all necessary regulatory permitting, bidding for construction will
follow," he wrote.
Casolo estimated that the design process could be completed
by next summer with construction expected to last an entire year.
"The bridge will remain open to alternating traffic
until the start of construction," he wrote. "Afterwards there will be
a detour route during construction."
The Connecticut Department of Transportation awarded a total
of $17.3 million in grant funding for 15 bridge projects under
the state-funded State Local Bridge Program.
Under the program, which provides funding for locally-owned
bridges, the state department provides guidance to local municipalities. Cities
and towns are expected to administer all the design and construction aspects of
their individual projects.
“This program helps keep locally-owned bridges in good
repair, ensuring they remain safe and reliable for all travelers,” said
Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto. “As
the program continues to deliver real results for communities both big and
small, its popularity grows year after year. We’re proud to support these
efforts and get the projects to the finish line.”
Since 2016, the program has provided approximately $162
million in grants to Connecticut cities and towns.