Upcoming Major Construction Booms You’ll Want To Know
Construction Booms for 2017
In 2015, Equipment World predicted five cities across the U.S. would have boom years: Houston, Dallas, New York City, Chicago, and Denver. Only Houston fell short of expectations. All the other cities experienced major upturns in construction as anticipated.
Projects like Second Avenue Subway, Hudson Yards and the Brooklyn Park mega project led to New York City’s construction boom. For Chicago, “the U.S. Department of Transportation allocated $1.1 billion to help the Chicago Transit Authority modernize the Red and Purple lines of their rail system. Total cost of the project is estimated at $2.1 billion,” which led to the construction boom.
These projects are also the reason New York City and Chicago landed on Equipment World’s construction booms list for 2017. For 2017, in addition to New York and Chicago, “Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco make their first appearances on [Equipment World’s] boom radar.”
Major Projects in Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco That Will Lead to Regional Booms
Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco were predicted by Equipment World to have bigger booms than any other major cities in the U.S. save New York City and Chicago. The following projects are the reasons why.
Los Angeles
According to Equipment World, L.A. has received a ton of foreign investment in recent years. The Chinese are responsible for much of the investment. As a result, “L.A. hasn’t experienced a building boom like this since the 1920s.”
Planning for the 2028 Olympics has also added to L.A.’s boom. In particular, the Purple Line has meant an additional $1.58 billion of federal funds.
A new stadium for the L.A. Chargers means another $2.66 billion in construction funds. Plus, George Lucas’s Lucas Museum of Narrative Art means another $1 billion will be spent on construction over the next several years.
Seattle
In addition to the two-mile Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Tunnel under downtown Seattle, which will be drilled by “Bertha, the world’s largest tunnel-boring machine,” the city is experiencing a massive residential boom.
The boom, even in relation to the other four cities on this list, is unparalleled. “Of the five boom cities mentioned in this article, only Seattle ranks in the top 10 U.S. cities for growth in construction and extraction occupations.”
According to Equipment World, there were more cranes at work in Seattle — “dotting its skyline in 2016” — than in any other city.
San Francisco
Even though there may be more construction occurring in Los Angeles, San Francisco “leads California in job growth.” If anything is an indicator of residential and commercial construction to come, it is a job boom in an area.
As more people flood into San Francisco to take advantage of the job market, new housing will be required, considering San Francisco already has the most expensive housing in the nation: “Rent for a one-bedroom apartment dropped 2.1 percent to $3,390 per month, still the highest in the U.S. Housing remains at a premium.”
Already the construction boom is moving full steam ahead. Wages for construction workers in San Francisco increased by 11.3 percent, and wages for heavy equipment operators increased by 9.4 percent in the last year.
Construction all over the country has been picking up over the last two and a half years. Now, far more than during an economic downturn, it is important to consider the impact of diesel fuel emissions and what technologies can help both increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.