Projects funded by the economic-stimulus bill will provide the only bright spot for the construction industry next year, according to Associated Builders and Contractors.

The trade group predicts nonresidential construction employment to fall by 5 percent or more next year, compared with this year. The good news is that’s only half this year’s rate of decline.

The industry has “been impacted by a combination of financing constraints, massive job loss, and a lack of confidence in local economies across the nation due to falling tax revenues,” said Anirban Basu, the organization’s chief economist.

The economic-stimulus bill, however, has provided work for construction companies involved in water and sewer projects and road resurfacing, and “those segments are positioned to be among the big winners in 2010,” Basu said.

Also, “public buildings—particularly courthouses and federal facilities in need of modernization—will receive a sizable increase next year due to stimulus funds reaching the market,” Basu said.

The Federal Highway Administration has obligated more than $20 billion of the $26.6 billion in economic-stimulus funds appropriated for highway and bridge projects.

Nearly 8,500 highway projects have been approved, the agency said, and nearly 5,000 are under way.

“Even though winter is right around the corner, highway and bridge projects are still getting under way, creating thousands of jobs and saving thousands more,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The Department of Energy awarded $155 million in economic-stimulus funds for 41 projects to improve energy efficiency at industrial facilities.

The industrial sector accounts for more than 30 percent of the nation’s energy use and is responsible for 30 percent of the nation’s carbon emissions.

Most of the projects will support efforts by local universities and agencies to help industrial facilities conduct assessments on how they can become more energy efficient.

The biggest share of the money, however, will go to nine projects that will generate heat and power needed for industrial processes on-site. The $150 million awarded for these projects will be matched by $634 million in private funding. The projects will save an estimated 14 trillion Btu a year in energy.