Construction Economics for March 17, 2025

ENR’s 20-city average cost indexes, wages and materials prices. Historical data and details for ENR’s 20 cities can be found at ENR.com/economics

Source: New feed

Best Specialty Construction: Minnesota Zoo Treetop Trail

The Minnesota Zoo’s overhead monorail was decommissioned in 2013, but the rails installed in 1979 remained as a relic of a bygone era of overhead transportation—until BARR Engineering and Snow Kreilich Architects reimagined the route as the Treetop Trail.

Source: New feed

Best K-12 Education: Bard High School Early College

Building over a D.C. Metro tunnel challenged the Bard High School Early College project team, who transformed a former elementary school into an institution dedicated to increasing higher education access for low-income and underrepresented communities by providing a free college program.

Source: New feed

Best Health Care: Mayo Clinic AZ Bold Forward West Expansion

The team working on the project to expand a top-rated Mayo Clinic facility in Phoenix performed extensive prefabrication work that allowed the hospital not only to avoid disruptions to patient care by remaining open during construction but also shaved months off the schedule.

Source: New feed

Best Energy/Industrial: Baytown Supermodule Furnace Project

Planning and constructing a 128-ft-tall, 139-ft-long, 62-ft-wide, 2,800-ton cracking furnace, then transporting it a mile before carefully connecting it was a puzzle that took some out-of-the-box thinking and next-level coordination.

Source: New feed