Road builders worry that funding sources are drying up

Large road and highway builders in northern Nevada worry that the pipeline of civil projects is finally drying up due to budget shortfalls with county and government agencies.

RTC-5, the regional gas tax that was passed in 2009, funded much highway and infrastructure work, says Craig Holt, vice president and co-owner of Sierra Nevada Construction. But SNC and other companies are getting worried that the funding may dry up for projects let by the Regional Transportation Commission and Nevada Department of Transportation.

"It really is a problem with civil work," Holt says. "RTC-5 funded a bunch or work, but that is basically gone, and I think they will struggle to put out projects. NDOT, their funding is limited, and we may be headed to times where the vertical (construction) people were a few years ago."

Rod Cooper, Nevada regional manager for Granite Construction, says RTC-5 provided an strong funding stream that helped keep regional roads healthy.

Cooper says the industry is rooting for passage of a federal highway bill that would provide significant funding for the Nevada Department of Transportation and local government agencies.

"A strong highway bill will allow the state of Nevada Department of Transportation to continue to plan and build some of best roads in nation and employ many construction workers," Cooper says. "Without a strong highway bill, the state and businesses can't plan, and unemployment remains high. NDOT has shovel-ready jobs, they just need committed funding to put those jobs out to bid."

Without funding commitments, such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that spurred a great deal of infrastructure work in 2009 and 2010, the volume of work is expected to decrease substantially.

Lance Semenko, vice president of engineering for Q&D Construction, says next year could be scary for road and highway builders.

"We don't know where the work is or where the money is at," Semenko says.

The region's large general contractors still have a healthy amount of road and highway work in the hopper for 2012 construction season, however.

SNC is involved with a large project off Geiger Grade, and it also is doing some work on Highway 722 past Fallon. The company also has landed a great deal of work with the California Department of Transportation, Holt says. SNC is licensed in Nevada, California, Idaho and Utah and work in those states is providing crucial revenue.

"If you are not in the mines or not willing to travel, you are not going to be doing a lot of work right now," Holt says. "If you are going to be a highway builder, you have to go into other states."

Q&D's Semenko says a large number of Q&D workers also are traveling to jobs in rural parts of Nevada. Q&D has projects going on at Valmy and in Elko.

"The work definitely is not centered in the Reno-Sparks area anymore," Semenko says. "You have to do some hunting and pecking to go get it. We are traveling way outside the community to do any work. We are going to California, Utah and wherever to find work.

"A lot of these guys are doing it because they don't have any other choice; they have go to where the work is, and if it is out of town then they have to go out of town," Semenko says.

Q&D has a handful of projects closer to home. The company recently finished up installing bus stations along Virginia Street, and it is rehabilitating Virginia Street from Fourth to Sixth streets. The company also is installing a new sewer main from the Interstate 80 off ramp at Virginia Street to the businesses at the top of Virginia Street just south of McCarran Boulevard.

Some of the company's largest projects are in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Q&D is rehabbing State Route 28 from the junction of Mt. Rose Highway to about Kings Beach. It's also installing a roundabout at the junction of Highways 431 and 28, and has a roughly five-mile stretch of water quality work that calls for new curbing, pipes and filtration basins along the Mt. Rose Highway.

Granite also landed several large projects in the Truckee Meadows, most notably the long-awaited expansion of northbound Highway 395, and the $75 million design-build reconstruction of Interstate 80.

Cooper says that about 125 tradesmen are working on the Interstate 80 job, which is expected to wrap up an 18-month construction schedule this September. Granite's workforce is down from mid-2000 levels, Cooper says, but the two big projects allowed the company to keep its payroll numbers steady over the past few years.

Granite also has four projects in more remote areas of the state. It's working on a renewable energy sub station near Ely, two NDOT projects near Wells, and on a microwave station as a subcontractor for Par Electric.