A Letter from our President
How big of a number is one trillion? It is a million million. That is hard to visualize, so perhaps a common comparison would be easier to grasp. One million dollars, placed in a stack of one-hundred-dollar bills, would be 3.3 feet tall. One trillion dollars, in a stack of one-hundred-dollar bills, would be 625 miles high. If this stack of currency were laid on its side, it would extend from our main office in New Orleans to the end of I-10 in Jacksonville—with $126 million leftover! One trillion is indeed a very large number.
In November, President Biden signed the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Act”). The new law provides funding for five years and includes $387 billion for highways and bridges; $48 billion for drinking and wastewater systems; $27 billion for ports and waterways; and $25 billion for aviation. The impact on Louisiana will be significant.
Routine federal funding for highways and bridges over the next five years will average about $1.2 billion per year, or an increase of almost $420 million annually compared to current funding. Louisiana will also receive $470 million for public transit and $180 million for airport improvements over that time. When added to the increased state funding for roads and bridges from the passage of a dedicated sales tax on motor vehicle sales approved by the Legislature last summer, our state will be positioned for the first time in decades to make a meaningful improvement to the condition of our transportation infrastructure. Infrastructure investments of this magnitude should lead to economic development and more capital projects in the private sector as well.
The construction industry and our company have always been subject to the forces of cyclical swings in the economy. One of the strengths of Boh Bros., and a way that we have adapted and survived for 113 years, is having talented, experienced people who can deliver predictably safe and efficient construction services to a wide variety of clients. We are well-positioned to benefit from the increase in public sector spending over the next few years while we maintain the flexibility to continue to serve our private clients. After trying times these past two years due to the Covid pandemic and its effect on the daily life of our employees and our families, we look forward to the future with gratitude and optimism.
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