FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday,
May 9, 2001
Contacts:
Karen
Whitney, (202) 366-0660
Claretta
Duren, (202) 366-4636
FHWA
19-01
FHWA
Reports Road Construction Costs Increased in First Quarter of 2001
The
U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
today announced that highway construction costs increased 0.9
percent in the first quarter of 2001 compared to the fourth quarter of
2000, and increased 9.5 percent compared to the first quarter a year ago.
The
first quarter results raised the FHWA's composite index for highway
construction costs to 151.2 percent of the 1987 base index (1987 average costs
equal 100 percent).
Increases
in the unit prices for common excavation, structural steel, and portland
cement concrete raised the index in the first quarter. There were decreases in the unit prices for reinforcing
steel, structural concrete, and bituminous concrete.
The three-quarter moving composite price index for the fourth quarter of 2000 -- obtained by combining data for the last two quarters of 2000 with the first quarter of 2001 -- decreased 1.6 percent from the previous three-quarter average.
Trends
in highway construction costs are measured by an index of average contract
prices compiled from reports of state highway contract awards for federal-aid
contracts greater than $500,000. Since
the enactment of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991,
the index reflects federal-aid contracts on the National Highway System.