Looks like car-centric infrastructure just got a whole lot less sustainable. 
TBF though, cost of everything is increasing.
I bought 7 joints (20 foot lengths) of 1/2” type L copper last week on Monday. Paid 1.75 a foot on it, no bulk discounts, etc.
I bought two joints of copper today, they cost me 2.48 a foot.
In the span of less than 14 calendar days the price on 1/2” copper pipe has increased approx .75¢ a foot. And thats wholesale, not retail. Big copper like 2” and up is butthole puckering expensive.
price jump on schedule 40 pvc has doubled the cost of large pipe like 4”-8”. It increases like every week and a half or two weeks. Small pvc is more in line with the increase on copper. Sch 80 is the same.
Same thing with crosslinked poly water line and poly gas line. Gas risers are up 50%. Small parts like straps, screws, etc. A sheet of 23/32 plywood, nothing fancy, is 50 bucks now. Fucking OSB is like 23-25 a sheet.
Sorry to spoil your “fun” but it aint just highyway construction costs that going up.
What's the reason behind it? At least the first wave of rapid price increases was driven by COVID disruptions. Is this more of the same or something new?
fossil fuel costs are going up, partly due to plain old greed, partly because of the Ukraine war, and, I can't find a comprehensive source proving it, but if you look around you'll find articles showing that fracking slowed down around 2019 https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/07/01/1027822/fracking-boom-jobs-industry/
I have absolutely no idea. Corporate greed? Housing booms across the planet causing everyone to compete for a finite level of raw material output? Hoarding ala toilet paper during covid?
There was a crazy increase in prices on stuff when covid disruptions were going hot and heavy, but they relaxed and sorta fell mostly in line with what they were pre disruptions. I cant recall the price on copper but i know at one point the local lumberyard was getting over 75 bucks for a sheet of 23/32 plywood. Its about 50 now but it was less a month ago. Its on the increase again.
It really does make it hard when literally every part you use goes up, constantly.
