Total construction starts ticked up 3% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.1 trillion, according to the report. Nonresidential building starts, such as office, hotel and healthcare projects, jumped 6%, while nonbuilding activity, such as highways, bridges and utility plants, surged 9% during the month.
But on a year-to-date basis, nonresidential starts trail last year’s pace through the first quarter by 9%, according to Dodge. Commercial and institutional groundbreakings, however, remain up 3% compared to the same period in 2024.
Yet that momentum may soon taper off, said Eric Gaus, chief economist at Dodge Construction Network.
“Construction activity grew over the month, but sector-specific data continued to show mixed trends,” said Gaus. “Rising delays in the planning pipeline suggest that developers are already bracing for impact, grappling with higher tariffs, dwindling federal funding and ongoing labor shortages.”
Trade policy and concerns over the broader economy will likely further slow building activity in the months ahead, said Gaus. That pessimism emerged in the latest backlog report, which showed that more than 40% of contractors now anticipate a decline in profits over the next six months.
Gaus said he expects these headwinds to grow as long as the uncertainty remains. Even so, that has not stopped some of the country’s biggest projects from moving ahead.
Here are the nine largest U.S. projects to break ground in March, according to Dodge’s latest report:
- The $3.5 billion Sunrise Offshore wind farm in Montauk, New York.
- The $2.1 billion Greenlink West Transmission Line in Yerrington, Nevada.
- The $1 billion Johnson & Johnson biologics manufacturing facility in Wilson, North Carolina.
- The $1 billion Four Seasons Private Residences Las Vegas in Henderson, Nevada.
- The $800 million Capital One Arena modernization in Washington, D.C.
- The $756 million Rail Tie Wind project in Tie Siding, Wyoming.
- The $750 million Amazon robotics fulfillment center in Wilmington, North Carolina.
- The $357 million Flatiron Building Condominiums in New York City.
- The $276 million The Villa Miami Condominiums in Miami.
Starts growth
Commercial starts provided a boost in March with groundbreakings up 21% month over month, largely due to strong activity in retail, office and warehouse projects. Manufacturing also posted a sharp rebound, up 122% after a sluggish February. Institutional construction, however, dropped 12% as dormitory, government and transportation starts slowed.
On the infrastructure side, nonbuilding starts jumped 9% in March, driven almost entirely by a 159% spike in utility and gas projects. That helped offset a 10% drop in highway and bridge work and a 26% decline in environmental public works. So far this year, nonbuilding activity is up 16%, led by strength in the utility sector and consistent growth in road and bridge construction.
Residential activity, on the other hand, continued to soften in March. Year to date, residential starts dropped 5%, with single-family and multifamily starts down 4% and 6%, respectively, compared to the first three months of 2024.
