The mechanism. The IIJA expires September 30, 2026, and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has already cleared its replacement: the BUILD America 250 Act (H.R. 8870), a five-year, $580 billion package that passed committee 62-2. The bill guarantees $474.4 billion in formula-driven Highway Trust Fund contract authority — the money that flows to state DOTs by statutory apportionment, largely tracking lane-miles, population, and existing federal-aid highway mileage — while also standing up new competitive pots: a $12 billion Surface Transportation Accelerator Grant program and a $10 billion Competitive Highway Bridge program, both discretionary and awarded project-by-project out of Washington. That split matters more than the topline number. Formula dollars reliably follow states with the most existing Interstate and federal-aid mileage; discretionary dollars follow whichever states write the best applications for new capacity — disproportionately fast-growing Sunbelt metros racing to keep up with population growth. Aggregates producers don't care about the bill's size so much as which spigot it favors, because that determines whose quarries get the truck traffic.
Infrastructure
Martin Marietta vs. Vulcan Materials: Who Wins the Next Highway Bill Fight
The same crushed rock, sold into two different Americas — how Congress splits formula dollars from discretionary grants in the next surface transportation bill decides which aggregates giant's footprint gets the tailwind.

1-YEAR MOVE
VMC
▼2.1%
CAT
▲101.8%
NUE
▲63.9%
| Ticker | Company | 1-year change |
|---|---|---|
| VMC | Vulcan Materials | −2.1% |
| CAT | Caterpillar | +101.8% |
| NUE | Nucor | +63.9% |