BUSINESS MEMO: STATE CONSTRUCTION DOWN

February construction activity in Missouri was down 26 percent from February 1995, the second straight month overall construction was down by more than 20 percent. In January, construction was down 22 percent from the previous year.

Totals for the month were reported at $341,035,000, compared to the $461,975,000 during the same month a year ago, according to the F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill, an authority on the construction market. Dodge, which issues monthly totals in its Dodge Report, also publishes Sweet's Catalog Files.

The state's nonresidential construction during February was reported at $86,126,000, down more than 55 percent from the $207,230,000 figures of the previous February.

But February's residential construction was $177,667,000, up 14 percent from February 1995's $156,100,000.

Nonbuilding construction, which includes streets, highways, bridges, river and harbor developments, airports and a few other projects, was reported at $77,242,000 for February, compared to the $98,645,000 million during the same month a year ago.

Total construction is down 24 percent for the first two months of the year. January and February totals are at $705,722,000, down from the $924,882,000 for the same period a year ago.