Regionally, the Great Lakes market was looking at what could only be called a banner year, according to Industrialinfo.com. At the half-year mark, an evaluation of the active capital and maintenance spending projects showed that over 500 projects, worth $13.8 billion, were still on the books for the last six months of the year.
Over 200 of those projects worth in excess of $4.1 billion are anticipated to begin construction during the final quarter of 2005 in the region. Illinois is the spending leader with just over $1 billion spread over 35 projects. Kentucky is second with over $800 million (33 projects), followed by Michigan with $635 million (33 projects), Ohio with $610 million (50 projects), Indiana with $550 million (41 projects), and Wisconsin with $470 million (22 projects).