A flurry of health-care building projects and highway work in and around Toledo has helped make the Glass City one of the fastest growing construction markets in the country over the past year.

In a report released Tuesday, the Associated General Contractors of America said the number of people working construction in metro Toledo grew by 11 percent from May, 2014, to May, 2015. That growth ranked it 32nd fastest among 358 metro areas. No other city in Ohio had stronger growth.

Local contractors say a number of high-profile projects have led to that growth, including ProMedica’s Health and Wellness Center in Sylvania, Mercy Health System’s freestanding emergency room in Sylvania Township, and the Mud Hen’s Hensville project downtown.

But the biggest reason is the area’s glut of highway reconstruction and bridge work.

“That’s been a really positive market for the last 12 to 24 months,” said John Wagner, owner of E.S. Wagner Co., a large construction contractor in Oregon.

For Mr. Wagner’s company, that’s making up for a slowdown in eastern Ohio’s oil and gas fields. But Mr. Wagner said the road construction work is almost too much of a good thing.

“It’s really better for everyone if the work volume is more consistent,” he said. “We’re going to have a period here of a tremendous amount of work, and we’re going to have an inevitable slowdown.”

The Associated General Contractors said metro Toledo added 1,300 construction jobs in that 12 month period, but the group did not break the data down by trade or type or project.

The group said metro Toledo had 13,600 construction jobs as of May.

“I think we’ve almost done every major bridge overhaul there is to do now,” said Shaun Enright, executive secretary of the Northwest Ohio Building Trades. “We’ve seen a huge increase in infrastructure hours, and it had to happen. A lot of these bridges were unsafe as they were. It keeps us pretty busy.”

Mr. Enright said nearly every industry is either stable or growing. One exception is electricians, Mr. Enright said.

Work is also increasing away from the orange barrels.

“Clearly, we’re seeing an increased level of activity over what we’ve seen in the last few years,” said Tom Manahan, president of the Lathrop Co., a Mamuee general contractor. “There’s still a considerable about of health-care activity that’s going on, as well as higher education work and just commercial work in general.”

Mr. Manahan believes the increase in work is a trend, not a blip. “There’s additional significant projects that are going to be starting,” he said. “You’ve got the new Toledo Hospital tower, the Lucas County jail is anticipated to get started in 12 to 15 months, and the various activity downtown. We see the market as staying strong for the next few years, which is a great thing for our community.”

Contact Tyrel Linkhorn at tlinkhorn@theblade.com or 419-724-6134 or on Twitter @BladeAutoWriter.

First Published July 1, 2015, 4:00 a.m.