Federal obligations in highway, street, and bridge construction (NAICS 237310)

Direct federal road contracts versus highway grants

NAICS 237310 covers highway, street, and bridge construction. On USAspending.gov the code tags contract awards classified as that construction: federal lands roads, military installation roads, and other projects bought as contracts. It is not a mile count, and it is not the Federal-Aid Highway Program as a grant total. Formula and project grants to state DOTs are assistance awards that often carry no NAICS and therefore do not sit in this table.

Commercial and institutional building construction is 236220. Other heavy and civil engineering construction is 237990. A campus project can split a building, an access road, and a flood-control job across those three codes. The $19.3 billion figure is only awards tagged 237310.

Reading $19.3 billion without confusing it with FHWA grants

USAspending records obligations on contract awards tagged 237310. Task orders, modifications, and construction vehicles all feed $19,338,018,553.29. This packet has no fiscal-year split and no outlay total. Citing $19.3 billion as “federal highway spending” will understate assistance to states and overstate what this NAICS table measures.

Outlays are progress payments on those contracts. Quote the figure as USAspending contract obligations coded to highway, street, and bridge construction. For grant-funded state roads, use assistance views.

6,418 awards, not 6,418 bridges

The 6,418 award records include many relatively small paving and repair actions as well as larger bridge replacements. The count is not 6,418 structures. Open the industry page for the award list. Compared with building construction in this industry set, highway construction shows fewer records and a smaller contract-dollar total—consistent with the grant channel carrying much of the national road program.

Road finance in the United States is mostly grants to states. This NAICS table is mostly not that. USAspending contract awards tagged 237310 show $19,338,018,553.29 in obligations on 6,418 records: highways, streets, and bridges bought as contracts. Federal lands roads and installation roads can live here. A visible interstate paid with assistance may never receive a NAICS and will not live here. Buildings stay on 236220. Other heavy civil stays on 237990. The 6,418 awards mix paving orders and larger bridge jobs. They are not miles. Cite contract obligations, say assistance is probably elsewhere, and keep outlays out. The industry page lists the 237310 records only.

What 237310 excludes

Assistance awards may not carry NAICS and are outside this total. That exclusion is the main reading risk. Engineering design (541330) is not construction. Remediation (562910) is cleanup, not a new roadway. Those neighboring tables are separate.

SpendingVault aggregates USAspending.gov contract data. The $19,338,018,553.29 total and the 6,418 award count can change after corrections. The live industry page is the table of record.

Using the highway-construction industry page

Open the HIGHWAY, STREET, AND BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION industry page for the contract-award list under the headline. Compare 237310 with 236220 and 237990 on All industries, and keep contracts distinct from grants. Cite obligations, not outlays, and keep the 6,418 award count with the dollar figure.

Citing direct road contracts without FHWA grants

Cite $19,338,018,553.29 in USAspending contract obligations on 6,418 awards tagged NAICS 237310, highway, street, and bridge construction. Immediately add that assistance to state DOTs often has no NAICS and is outside this figure. That is the main misread on this code.

The 6,418 award count is not miles or bridges. Buildings and other heavy civil work are other construction lines and are not in this packet. Outlays are progress payments, not this field. For grant-funded highways, leave the industry table and use assistance data.

Direct federal road contracts are a thin slice of national highway finance. The $19,338,018,553.29 total is awards tagged 237310: federal lands, installations, and other projects bought as contracts, across 6,418 records. Formula aid to state DOTs is mostly assistance and often has no NAICS, so it will not appear here even when it pays for a visible interstate project.

A paving task order and a bridge replacement can share the 6,418 count. Miles are not in the packet. Buildings are 236220. Other heavy civil is 237990. Cite USAspending contract obligations on 6,418 awards coded highway, street, and bridge construction, and say out loud that grants are probably elsewhere. Outlays are progress payments, not this field.

Questions

How much is obligated on NAICS 237310 highway and bridge construction?

USAspending.gov contract awards coded NAICS 237310 show $19,338,018,553.29 in obligations across 6,418 awards. That total is contract obligations, not outlays, and it is not a highway-grant total. USAspending.gov records the amount as contract obligations, not outlays, on awards tagged NAICS 237310.

Does this include Federal-Aid Highway grants to states?

Usually not. Assistance awards may not carry NAICS and are generally outside this industry total. The $19,338,018,553.29 figure is contract awards tagged 237310. Grant-funded state roads belong in assistance data. The packet total is $19,338,018,553.29 across 6,418 awards; assistance awards often have no NAICS and stay outside the industry rollup.

Are federal buildings included?

Commercial and institutional building construction is NAICS 236220. This table is highways, streets, and bridges. Building dollars tagged 236220 are not inside this total. Treat the 6,418 figure as an award-record count, including orders and modifications, not as a physical inventory of products or sites.

Do 6,418 awards mean 6,418 bridges?

No. The 6,418 figure counts contract award records, including paving jobs and modifications. It is not a structure inventory. This guide does not add a fiscal-year split. Quote the live industry page if you need the current award list under HIGHWAY, STREET, AND BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION.