Welcome to the Roadscapes Wednesday segment! Each week here on Geek Alabama, Roadscapes Wednesday will feature roads and infrastructure related topics. Geek Alabama Editor / Publisher Nathan Young is often called the “road geek” for a good reason, Nathan loves roads and loves talking about roads!
The asphalt and road paving industry has always been hugely dependent on federal money. In fact, about 50% of the funding to the industry comes from the U.S. government.
With the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, signed into law, $1.2 trillion will be invested. That is a 40% to 50% increase over the previous FAST Act. CRH, as the largest road paver in the U.S., is one of the biggest winners. In 2022, CRH made more than $32 billion; more than $20 billion of that came from its business in America. That number is about to increase substantially in the next few years.
But there are some strings attached. More money is going to projects that prove they are better for the environment. The industry has solutions to meet this challenge, such as recycled asphalt pavement and warm mix asphalt. But implementing them in the field poses challenges.
Categories: Roadscapes Stuff
