SightLines Q3 2026
In this issue: grid investment continues to accelerate, infrastructure companies adapt how they manage work at scale, and AWP Safety’s Tyler Koontz explains how earlier traffic control planning can improve utility program safety, consistency and productivity.
What’s Trending: The Grid Build-Out is Accelerating
Utilities and transmission developers are investing at record levels as thousands of line and substation projects move into service.
Why it matters: Grid expansion means more concurrent projects across more locations. For infrastructure leaders, the challenge is to increase capacity without allowing gaps in planning, scheduling or execution to erode productivity and profitability.
INSIGHT: Scale Changes How Work Gets Done
As planned campuses scale, so does adjacent infrastructure – elevating the need for strong execution to the enterprise level for data center builders and partners.
58%
of utility infrastructure contractors increased headcount
in the previous 12 months
Source: AGC/NCCER, 2025 Workforce Survey – Utility Infrastructure Results
54%
of construction firms plan to add or replace project management technologyin the next 12-24 months
Source: Wipfli, 2026 State of Technology in the Construction Industry
Risk or Opportunity?
Rising project volume brings new pressure, along with opportunities to improve how work is planned, coordinated and measured across an enterprise.
Variation Can Raise Costs
Your next move: Standardize the parts of the process that should stay consistent while giving teams room to respond to local conditions.
Late Coordination Can Disrupt Schedules
Your next move: Bring the right partners into planning earlier and make ownership clear before work reaches the field.
Program Data Can Reveal Reoccurring Problems
Your next move: Look across projects, not only at individual jobs, to identify where risk and performance issues keep showing up.
Thought Leadership: Moving Traffic Control Upstream
As utilities take on more work across more locations, managing traffic control one job at a time creates greater risk and inconsistency.
Tyler Koontz, AWP Safety vice president, South Division — commercial, explains how earlier, program-level planning can help leaders improve schedule reliability and give field teams a more consistent starting point.
Partners in Your Future
AWP Safety safeguards one million worksites annually. Customers rely on us to protect their crews, communities and business interests during utility, broadband and road construction projects.
View AWP Safety’s Q3 2026 SightLines Issue as a PDF.
Related Resource
AWP Safety’s webinar, “Safety Readiness for Changing Work Zones” provides practical guidance on recognizing risk earlier and responding as field conditions change.
