Pub. 2 2019-2020 Issue 1

9 In short, 2020 looks like a good year, but 2021 probably won’t be as good. Ken Simonson had key points to watch in several different areas. Roads, Transportation, and Sewer or Water • The federal government won’t increase infrastructure spending until 2021 or later, but states are acting by adding highway funding and toll projects. • Transit construction is selective. For example, there are many airport pro- jects, public and private, that are either new or ongoing. • Spending on water and sewer or waste- water is at or near record levels, but long- term new funding is unlikely. • The federal government has increased the amount of money available for conserva- tion. The Corps of Engineers is having a hard time keeping up. It cannot award and manage additional projects fast enough. Power and Energy, Manufacturing, Amusement, and Communication • Solar andwind power efforts are growing. Court and regulatory delays are affecting oil and natural gas pipelines. Falling gas prices have discouraged companies from new drilling projects. • Project cancellations will stall manufactur- ing construction because of the effect of tariffs, foreign retaliation, and a slowing global economy. • Funding for local, state, and federal parks is continuing to erode. Big spending on amusement and recreation tends to be slow and irregular. • As wireless firms build out 5G networks, their efforts could revive communication. Education and Health Care • The fact that property values are increas- ing for homes and commercial properties is supporting preK-12 projects that are being built with money from school dis- trict tax receipts and bond issues. • Districts are spending more money on school reconstruction and expansion in cities and suburbs than on new schools in new subdivisions. • University enrollment is decreasing and some small colleges are closing com- pletely.Why the decrease? Fewer students are choosing to invest in a university edu- cation; in addition, there are fewer full-tu- ition foreign students. • The stock market is affection capital cam- paigns for college construction. • Health care spending is being increas- ingly redirected from hospitals to doctors’ offices and special-care stan- dalone facilities such as hospice, rehab, surgery and urgent care. Retail, Warehouse, Office, Hotel, and Data Centers • Retail is turning toward mixed-use build- ings and renovations. Massive numbers of stores are closing. • E-commerce has meant increased ware- housegrowth, but tradewarshave reduced shipment traffic in both directions. • Instead of new suburban office parks, companies are building in cities or reno- vating existing buildings. Employees have smaller work spaces. • Many hotels are being built, but the sector is extremely sensitive to rising interest rates. • Data centers are a strong niche, but most are not reported separately. Instead, Data is weak for construction additions and renovations, but it should closely track homebuying. continued from page 7 continued on page 10