BUSINESS MEMO: MISSOURI CONSTRUCTION RISES

January construction activity in Missouri was down 22 percent from January 1995.

Totals for the month were reported at $360,787,000, compared to the $462,907,000 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.

Nonresidential construction during January, which includes commercial, manufacturing and other buildings not designed for shelter, was reported at $113,933,000, down more than 50 percent from the $251,473,000 figures of December.

Residential construction for the month was $158,882,000, up 29 percent from the $123,309,000 in January 1995.

Nonbuilding construction, which includes streets, highways, bridges, river and harbor developments, airports and a few other projects, was reported at $87,972,000 for January, compared to the $88,125,000 during the same month a year ago.