If the federal government increases funding for highway projects, that also will give a boost to the tire business, he said.
Mr. Easter noted that Yokohama will be increasing production in some of its OTR tire sizes.
"We're also in the process of new product development in radials, and a lot of those sizes are those construction-type sizes," he said.
"We believe these markets will continue to be strong in 2017 for residential housing, manufacturing plant construction and expansion, non-residential construction and some infrastructure work," said Michelin North America, which manufactures earthmover tires for construction equipment, such as graders, scrapers, compactors and cranes. "We expect that to give our end-users an important boost over a longer time horizon,"
Dodge Data noted that the election "also already provided some clarity on likely construction at the state and local level.
Voters have given their approval for several major construction-related measures in California, Colorado, Texas and North Carolina with a combined value upwards of $136 billion for education and transportation sector construction."
Its 2017, Dodge Construction Outlook report predicts total U.S. construction starts for 2017 will increase 5 percent to $713 billion, compared with gains of only an estimated 1 percent in 2016, and 11 percent in 2015.
"The U.S. construction industry has witnessed signs of deceleration in 2016, following several years of steady growth," Mr. Murray said.
"Total construction starts during the first half of [2016] lagged behind what was reported in 2015, raising some concern that the current construction expansion may have run its course. However, the early 2016 shortfall reflected the comparison to unusually elevated activity during the first half of 2015, lifted by 13 very large projects valued each at $1 billion or more, such as a $9 billion liquefied natural gas export terminal in Texas and a $2.5 billion office tower in New York City.
"...The construction industry has now entered a more mature phase of its expansion, one that is characterized by slower rates of growth than what took place during the 2012-2015 period, but still growth. Since the construction start statistics will lead the pattern of construction spending, this means that construction spending can be expected to see moderate gains through 2017 and beyond."
Dodge Data noted that the U.S. economy is expected to experience moderate job growth and more funding support from state and local bond measures.
"Although the global economy in 2017 will remain sluggish, energy prices appear to have stabilized, interest rate hikes will be gradual and few, and a new U.S. president will have been elected....Gains of 8 percent are expected for both residential building and nonresidential building, while nonbuilding construction slides a further 3 percent," Mr. Murray said.
However, the Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. (ABC) trade association is less optimistic.
"Many Americans may have thought spending in the water supply category would be booming given the recent crisis in Flint, Mich., or that highway and street-related construction would be trending higher given the passage of the FAST Act (in 2015)," according to ABC's industry outlook report.