![]() Contractors are finding it increasingly difficult to get such electrical equipment as transformers and switchgear, causing delays in the building of electric vehicle charging stations and the modernization of electrical grids. A new report issued by the Wall Street Journal notes that delays are being fueled by a “boom in power-hungry renewable-energy projects, data centers and semiconductor factories, stretching the production capabilities of electrical equipment suppliers.” The delays have been a long time coming and are impacting different industries in different ways. Late last year the American Public Power Association asked its members how long it was taking for the delivery of new transformers, and the answer on average was roughly a year. In 2018, the average was around three months. Reports the publication New Scientist: “Efforts to modernize ageing electrical grids face delays of months or even years,” adding that the delays were for the most part being caused because of a “national shortage of electrical distribution transformers.” The lack of supply is forcing electrical contractors, notes the site Raiven, to “waste their valuable time searching for available equipment and supplies, building up parts inventories when they do find stock, evaluating new suppliers, and contacting manufacturers directly for products.” The challenge is made all the greater by a lack of fiber optic cables and components and even utility poles. Where it will all end is uncertain, although experts say the supply chain issues hampering the construction industry last year have largely lessened. The Wall Street Journal article notes one industrial supplier who says its output has increased by as much as 75%. Only problem: demand is up 100% to 150%. By Garry Boulard
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![]() A town of around 9,000 residents in western Colorado may soon see new street, sidewalk, and bike lane work as the result of a $13.2 million federal grant. The federal Department of Transportation has announced that it is awarding a Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant to the town of Delta as one of half a dozen Colorado transportation infrastructure projects. The Delta work will go for what is being called a “Revitalizing Main Street Project” that will see the reconstruction of the main thoroughfare in downtown Delta, as well as an upgrading of the sidewalks there to make them more Americans with Disabilities Act compliant. The project will also see new landscaping and a blending of driving, walking, and biking facility needs. Delta Mayor Kevin Carlson said the project will help slow traffic in the downtown area on a street dotted with mostly small one-story commercial and some residential structures. People traveling through in their vehicles at a more leisurely pace, Carlson told the Delta County Independent, “can notice our restaurants and public art, instead of driving as fast as possible, missing everything we have to offer.” City officials began preliminary study work on a Main Street project more than a year ago, with the idea of reconfiguring the street in a way that supports traffic flow and area businesses. Plans call for project design work to begin later this year, with an emphasis on public input. Once a trading post, Delta endured a population drop to around 3,600 residents in the early 1970s, only to see those numbers increase to just over 9,000 according to the latest U.S. Census. That increase is thought to be somewhat due to the town's lower housing costs. While the average statewide rent for a one-bedroom apartment is around $1,300, apartments in Delta go for less than $900. By Garry Boulard ![]() A long-planned roadway upgrade and improvement project in the Navajo Nation may begin shortly with an infusion of $20 million in federal funds. The project, stretching over a 7-mile rural span in northeastern Arizona on what is officially called the Bureau of Indian Affairs Route N-15 will see a widening of the existing roadway, as well as the building of a shoulder. In an area of the country where wildlife and livestock roam, the project will also see the building of both cattle guards and livestock underpasses. According to federal Department of Transportation documents, the project area has historically been prone to a “high number of lane departure, road departure, and wildlife-related crashes.” Funding for the project is coming through the Transportation Department’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity program, a massive $2.2 billion initiative designed to support transportation infrastructure projects across the country. Of that amount, Arizona is receiving a total of nearly $61 million for five separate infrastructure projects. In a statement, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema said the funding is “reaching all corners of our state, connecting communities, improving transportation safety, and fueling a healthy economy where everyone benefits.” The Navajo project will also see the construction of drainage structures. Notes the Transportation Department narrative: the project addresses “installing properly sized culverts.” The route is additionally a “vital connection to provide a rural community access to employment, schools, health care facilities, government offices, residential areas, and commercial areas.” The N-15 Route is part of complex of historic trails formerly used by indigenous people decades before the creation of highways and railroad lines. The routes are visually distinguished by the presence of signs featuring the image of an arrowhead pointing downward, with the number of the route displayed within that image. By Garry Boulard ![]() A proposal to outlaw the practice of what is known as “salting” in the workplace has been introduced in the House of Representatives. Georgia Congressman Rick Allen says his legislation, called the Truth in Employment Act, seeks to make illegal a practice that he says is often used against business owners. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, salting occurs when a labor union pays an individual to apply for a job. Once the job is secured, that person begins the process of gathering information about the company from the inside in an effort to form a union. A notice from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year asserted that “employers are not allowed to ask if a job candidate is affiliated with a union, but union salts may make their intentions known during the hiring process.” “If they do,” the Chamber directive continues, “simply not hiring them may seem like a reasonable option but following that path could place the employers in legal jeopardy by establishing an anti-union animus to be used against it later.” In a statement, Allen has charged that salting “has become more common across the country and is nothing more than a desperate attempt to strong arm non-union employers into unionizing their workforce.” Allen added that salting results in companies having to let their workforce be unionized “without a vote or forcing them to shut their doors.” If successful, Allen’s legislation, HR 4320, would amend the National Labor Relations Act, declaring that employers would not be legally required to hire a person who is identified as a union organizer. The measure has won the support of various industry organizations, including the American Builders and Contractors, which has characterized salting as “not merely an organizing tool—it has become an instrument of economic destruction aimed at nonunion companies.” Last month Chris Townsend, a former representative for the United Electrical Workers, wrote in the publication Labor Notes that “when workers are fired and victimized by the tens of thousands for exercising their right to unionize, salting is the completely justified response.” Salting, Townsend added, serves as a “catalyst for the workers already on the job who are frequently supportive of unions," while at the same time "terrified of organizing, for fear of retaliation.” According to labor historians, salting was first implemented during the 1930s when the national union movement made its most significant gains. Allen originally introduced the Truth in Employment Act in 2021, before it died for lack of action. The re-introduced version of the legislation is now under review in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. By Garry Boulard ![]() Plans are moving ahead for the construction of a new 83,000-square-foot community recreation center in Grand Junction. After initially being rejected by city voters in 2019, the proposal for the facility proved successful in April by a 60% to 40% margin, calling for a sales tax of just under 3.4% to fund the project. With input from the Denver-based consulting firm of Barker Rinker Seacat, which specializes in recreation center developments, the center will house a swimming pool, gymnasium, fitness room, dance studio, and indoor track, among other amenities. An emphasis on the community part of the project is seen with space in the center that will be delegated to neighborhood gatherings and meeting rooms. It is expected that it will cost around $70 million to build the new center. According to city officials, that $70 million will also cover the building of roads and infrastructure connected to the center. Last month the city's Parks and Recreation Advisory Board tabbed the more than 200-acre Matchett Park, which is located about four miles to the northeast of downtown Colorado Springs, as the site for the new center. Matchett Park was acquired by the city nearly three decades ago and may itself by subject to some redevelopment work before or during the time that work on the new center launches. By Garry Boulard ![]() Plans are advancing for work that will see a significant reconstruction of a taxiway at the Clovis Regional Airport. Funding to the tune of $2.8 million for the project is coming through the Federal Aviation Administration, as part of an overall $11 million the agency is providing for a series of airport infrastructure projects across New Mexico. Located some six miles to the east of downtown Clovis, the airport, whose property spans around 1,500 acres, sees around 2,500 enplanements a year. The FAA funding for Clovis will also fund work sealing the pavement and pavement joints of the airport's runway. The Clovis airport, which was opened in the spring of 1959, has taken on a number of large infrastructure projects in recent months. Last year, with some $2.1 million in funding from the New Mexico Economic Development Department, it launched work on a water transmission extension project. That project has centered on the building of a nearly 4-mile-long main water line connecting the airport to an existing City of Clovis water system. Other new FAA-funded New Mexico airport projects include runway rehabilitation work at the Double Eagle II Airport in Albuquerque, which is receiving $4.5 million; and a taxiway reconstruction project at the Grants-Milan Municipal Airport, receiving nearly $2.5 million in funding. In a statement, Senator Martin Heinrich underlined the importance of the FAA funding for smaller airports in New Mexico, noting that such facilities "connect rural communities in our state to healthcare services and important economic opportunities." By Garry Boulard ![]() Home purchases are expected to increase in the wake of a ruling issued by the Federal Housing Authority increasing the threshold dollar amount of multifamily insurance loans. The threshold change from $75 million to $120 million represents the first such alteration in FHA policy in nearly a decade. In announcing the decision, the FHA said the change will "enable a greater number of transactions to use standard underwriting processes" when applying for the agency's multifamily insurance. "We know that borrowers are contending with the dual challenges of increased developments costs and meeting the nation's dire need for more rental housing," remarked Julia Gordon, Federal Housing Commissioner. In a statement, Gordon continued: "Anything we can do to prudently alleviate extra steps in obtaining FHA insurance will help all of us meeting the housing supply challenges before us." Official documentation pertaining to the policy change describes it as prudent, adding that the change is in response to the "cost increases of housing and construction over the last decade, without providing undue risk to the FHA insurance fund." In an interview with the publication Globe Street, Dave Borsos, vice president of capital markets for the National Multifamily Housing Council, described the FHA announcement as "extremely important for the production or rehabilitation of rental housing." Borsos added that the policy change now will "allow for more loans, affordable or market rate, to utilize a standard processing path resulting in a simplified underwriting process and timeline." The move has also been applauded by the National Association of Realtors, with president Kenny Parcell observing: "The real estate market looks drastically different than it did almost ten years ago, and this increase reflects the changes in the market and the need to speed up and encourage multifamily rental development." By Garry Boulard ![]() Plans continue to advance for the construction of an 88-mile-long railroad that will start out in the Uinta Basin of Utah and slice through parts of Colorado on the way to a national railroad connection. What is known as the Uinta Basin Railway could, according to estimates, cost nearly $3 billion to build, and upon completion transport on some ten trains upwards of 350,000 barrels of crude oil on a daily basis. The project has been talked about on and off since the early 1980s but became a much more substantive proposal nearly a decade ago with the formation of the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition in Utah, which has its headquarters in the city of Price. That group has since been pushing for what has become a public/private partnership including the railroad holding company Rio Grande Pacific Corporation. Nearly two years ago construction of the project was given a green light by the Surface Transportation Board. A move is now underway to secure up to $2 billion in tax-exempt private activity bonds to help fund the project's construction. Opposition to the project has come from within Utah, but especially in Colorado where environmental groups have argued that the railroad could negatively impact both the state's environment as well as any community located near the route of the Uinta Basin Railway. Earlier this spring Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper sent a letter to the federal Department of Transportation opposing the project and in particular the issuance of the private activity bonds to fund it. The project, the Senators argued, will "undermine President Biden's priority of addressing the climate crisis, and harm communities through which these oil trains will travel and where this oil will be refined." The Transportation Department has yet to make a final ruling on whether to approve the Uinta Basin Railway's application for those private activity bonds. By Garry Boulard ![]() One of the largest indoor and outdoor cannabis farms in Colorado is now scheduled for a two-day auction beginning on July 24. The Beulah Valley Farm, set in the small south-central town of Beulah, was opened in 2014 and encompasses some 27 acres. Besides this vast acreage, the property is distinguished for its 10,000 square-foot processing facility. Additional feature: a nearly 2,000 square-foot building providing residential space for the site’s manager. Located at the foothills of the San Isabel National Forest at 7791 Colorado State Highway 78 W, some 26 miles to the southwest of Pueblo, the Beulah Valley Farm has legal clearance to produce up to 10,200 plants annually. Cannabis has been legal for medical use in the Centennial State with the voter passage of a state-wide amendment in November of 2000. In 2012, voters approved an additional amendment, allowing for recreational use. The Beulah operation has proven particularly successful, enjoying an annual revenue of around $400,000. The property is being listed by the Firestone, Colorado-based real estate firm KW Commercial. According to the Colorado Department of Revenue, total cannabis sales in April stood at $131 million. That figure is down from the $153 million for that same month in 2022. Record sales were reached in July of 2020 at $226 million during a time, according to the publication MJ Biz Daily, “when people flush with federal stimulus cash had few other places to spend their money.” By Garry Boulard ![]() Total enrollments nationally in public elementary and secondary schools are down to just over 49 million students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That figure is markedly off from the 50.8 million recorded in 2019, with projections of a decline to 48.2 million by 2025. Although enrollment increases have been most notable in the states of the West, with Texas seeing a more than 10% gain and always-growing Utah nearly twice that figure, the states of the North, in particular New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Illinois, have seen enrollment losses of generally between 5% and 10%. The overall enrollment declines in many states, including the once-perennially growing California, is prompting school boards to approve facility consolidation projects, a trend presenting new challenges to the nation’s architects and builders, according to the publication Building Design + Construction. Last month in Boston, where enrollment has declined from 54,300 students to just over 46,000 in the last decade, the local board of education voted to approve a merger of two long-standing schools, with reports indicating that other “single stand” schools may also soon be subject to mergers. The Portland, Oregon school system has experienced a decline of 4,300 students out of a total 43,000 in the last 5 years. In February, the Portland School Board voted to approve the merging of a magnet school and elementary school. One of the largest consolidation efforts has been ongoing in the El Paso Independent School District, where voters in 2016 approved a $668 million bond issue primarily designed to fund the consolidation of school facilities. Funding through that bond has targeted the consolidation of 20 campuses in response to what EPISD has called "declining enrollment and under capacity buildings." A similar move is currently in the talking stage in the Mattapoisett Public Schools district in eastern Massachusetts where an effort to consolidate two schools may save money in the long run but is expected to cost at least $7.4 million to begin with due to the construction of new classrooms. An independent report looking at the Mattapoisett consolidation project has recently concluded that it could not be accomplished "without significant construction." Noting that builders and architects are increasingly taking on “upgrades of existing structures and campuses,” as a result of consolidation projects, Building Design + Construction references one major St. Paul, Minnesota-based architectural firm whose primary work load today is made up of renovations and additions. Media reports indicate that the move toward more school consolidation, and hence, construction opportunities, is only going to increase in the coming years. Such consolidations, notes the publication K-12 Dive, represent an inevitable trend that "education and finance experts say was a long time coming but temporarily staved off in some places thanks to federal pandemic aid." By Garry Boulard |
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