Inflation could severely weaken the impact of funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, experts say.
High prices for construction materials and other project inputs are already sapping jurisdictions’ additional buying power from the federal legislation, according to analysis from the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank.
In the past year, states have been seeing 20% to 40% hikes in project costs, depending on the region and materials, Susan Howard, director of policy and government relations at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, told Pew. That’s leading transportation agencies to scale back on the scope of projects or use it for work that was already planned.
