SIDE BARS

CONCORD - With construction season in full hammer swing, contractors are feeling the same economic pressures as the commuting public - high fuel costs.

The market looks good despite some inflationary concerns and those soaring gas prices, said Gary Abbott, executive vice president of the Association of General Contractors of New Hampshire.

"Fuel costs highway contractors worse than building contractors," said Abbott, noting the use of petroleum-based products such as asphalt.

As an executive in the trade group, Abbott is keeping a close eye on major construction projects that have an economic ripple effect statewide. His prime concern early this year is the state of New Hampshire's 10-year transportation improvement plan. Highway projects can ignite a local economy in and of themselves, recent history shows. Faced with signs of a stagnating economic picture after the turn of the millennium, former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen moved to accelerate state-related construction projects that were already in the pipeline as a quick way to ensure workers had jobs.

The New Hampshire Economic and Labor Market Bureau, a division of the state Department of Employment Security, reported 28,000 general construction jobs in March and 17,000 people who listed themselves as specialty trade contractors. Early economic indicators point to a better construction year than 2005. The U.S. Census Bureau's manufacturing and construction bureau reports there was $1.2 billion in construction spending nationwide in March. Private construction spending at that time was about $100 million greater than a year ago March. And nonresidential construction was up about 10 percent.

New Hampshire's current 10-year plan totals about $3.5 billion. The trouble, Abbott announced this spring, is that it is 37 percent underfunded when one takes into account high gas prices, inflation, and future revenues and expenses. The plan, which the state updates every two years, calls for $284 million in works in fiscal year 2007. Major projects include the long-awaited expansion of Interstate 93 from Manchester to the Massachusetts border, a $450 million job the state hopes to launch in earnest next year.

In the Seacoast, projects include the widening of the Little Bay Bridges and roadway on the Spaulding Turnpike in Newington and the rehabilitation of the Memorial Bridge linking Portsmouth to Kittery, Maine. The Little Bay Bridges construction, a 3.5-mile section and $150 million project from Gosling Road to just shy of the Dover tolls, is scheduled for 2008 to 2014, according to the state Department of Transportation. But, the DOT notes, that is depending on the availability of funding. The $31.7 million Memorial Bridge project is scheduled for 2010. "You're in line for waiting for available funds," Abbott said.

The association's study of the 10-year plan this spring forecast some troublesome trends. The challenges include gas prices doubling in the past 10 years, construction costs escalating, and property values in some areas increasing by nearly 50 percent in the last three years. Abbott estimated that highway costs are up about 9 percent this year.

New Hampshire's federal highway revenue in 2006 is about $176 million, according to the Association of General Contractors. Association members include contractors from the building and highway industries who perform commercial and industrial work, public and private, statewide.