He said that during the past year, 274,000 construction workers (4.7 percent of the August 2009 total) have lost jobs, spread among all five categories tabulated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics: non-residential specialty trade contractors (123,700 or 5.8 percent), residential specialty trade contractors (63,200 or 4.0 percent), residential building (45,700 or 7.4 percent), non-residential building (31,900 or 4.5 percent), and heavy and civil engineering construction (10,000 or 1.2 percent).

“Construction job losses will resume soon unless Congress and the White House promptly finish work on long-term transportation and water infrastructure spending bills and keep income tax rates from soaring,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s CEO. “Stopgap funding for transportation doesn’t provide the certainty companies need for hiring. Meanwhile, the prospect of a leap in taxes is deterring private investment.”

Hey Congress, we’re sick of aging roads’

The Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce-led Americans for Transportation Mobility (ATM), two national groups advocating for significant new investments in transportation improvements, are working together to elevate infrastructure issues on the congressional legislative calendar this year.

The current federal highway/transit investment law, SAFETEA-LU, expired nearly a year ago on Sept. 30, 2009. It has been operating under a series of short-term extensions, the latest through Dec. 31, 2010.

The federal government is the source of nearly 45 percent of all public capital investments in surface transportation.

The two organizations have developed campaign advertising to appeal to the general public with signs asking, “Sick of Aging Roads? — Tell Congress to Act!”

Similar messages have been developed for traffic congestion, transit delays, and unsafe bridges.

Billboard advertisements have been running in South Dakota and South Carolina, and were posted in Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee, Iowa, and Maryland.