Federal funds coming to Alaska for transportation are holding even, but now the state is pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the economy through big capital budgets, much of it for infrastructure.

“It's starting to have a compounding effect. There's a lot of work going on,” said Jeff Otteson, statewide planning director in the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

Still, the affects are uneven through the state's construction industry. Road and earth-work contractors have plenty of work, but firms specializing in buildings and mechanical systems, while busy now, are apprehensive about the future.

“We don't see a lot in the pipeline for the near-term” said John McKinnon, director of the trade organization Associated General Contractors of Alaska.

The state is pumping money into construction but the effects of multi-billion-dollar state capital budgets approved by legislators this year and last won't be felt for another two to four years, McKinnon said. It takes that amount of time to get projects through the design and engineering, permitting and procurement stages, he said.

As for private work, major new commercial buildings in Anchorage have been or are nearing completion. While there is one big downtown commercial building still planned, the outlook for other new projects is uncertain, at least until there is greater clarity on whether a gas pipeline will move forward.

While parts of the $3 billion state capital budget approved by legislators in May will go to small neighborhood and school projects, a lot of it will fund major new infrastructure, new and renovated buildings and deferred major maintenance work around the state, he said.

Construction employment overall, meanwhile, is down about 1,000 workers this summer compared to last year, but the loss is in the slower residential building sector. Commercial and highways-related construction employment appears to be holding even, McKinnon said.

State labor economists report that about 17,000 were employed in Alaska construction in May compared to 18,000 in May 2007.

But the state is now planning to pump another $1.2 billion and possibly more into infrastructure to upgrade critical highways and bridges to prepare for gas pipeline construction, Ottesen said. The list for needed improvements could eventually reach $2 billion.

All of this work will help prepare the state's workforce for pipeline construction because a lot of jobs associated with roads and bridge work - equipment operators, teamsters, steelworkers, expeditors and mechanics - will be in high demand when work starts on a gas pipeline, which could be about 2014.

And federal requirements are now creating needs for specialized jobs, like archeologists, that were previously not thought of as being part of the construction industry.

Meanwhile, this year is busy for contractors specializing in highway projects. Major projects in the Anchorage area include the Bragaw interchange, the Dowling Road extension and the widening of the Glenn Highway near Merrill Field. There are a multitude of smaller projects underway.

In the Fairbanks area, the Steese Highway north of the city is undergoing a major upgrading and an interchange is being built in North Pole.

In Juneau a major interchange is under construction along Egan Expressway.

Interchanges are big-ticket items, typically costing $25 million to $30 million each.

A lot of small and not-so-small projects related to safety improvements are underway this year, such as repaving roads in strategic spots and placing and replacing “rumble” strips to keep drivers alert if they stray from the proper lanes.

Major upgrading projects are also underway along the Parks Highway from Mile 185 to 192, and along the Richardson Highway from Mile 174 to 185.

Some big new jobs are about to go to bid, which means dirt could be turned for these projects in the next year. A big one is the Trunk Road reconstruction in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, a $50 million project, Ottesen said. The price includes right-of-way acquisition.

Another major job is the replacement of the Tanana River bridge on the Alaska Highway east of Tok. This is estimated at $30 million to $40 million, and aside from basic public safety for the highway it is needed to handle the heavy loads during pipeline construction, Ottesen said.

This will be a two-year project. It has been in the planning and design stages for four years, Ottesen said, which illustrates how long it takes to get projects from initial approval to the ribbon-cutting at completion. In this case it will be six years, he said.

A big project in the Anchorage area that is still in the planning stages is the highway-to-highway link that will speed the flow of traffic between the Glenn Highway going north from the city to the Seward Highway going south. The connections between these two major arterials is now through city streets - and a string of stop lights - which adds to congestion. This is a major priority for municipal transportation planners, Ottesen said.