CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME - USD ($) shares in Millions, $ in Millions		12 Months Ended
		Dec. 31, 2023	Dec. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME [Abstract]
Total revenues	[1]	$ 7,781.9	$ 7,315.2	$ 5,552.2
Cost of revenues		(5,833.4)	(5,757.5)	(4,178.8)
Gross profit		1,948.5	1,557.7	1,373.4
Selling, administrative and general expenses		(542.8)	(515.1)	(417.6)
Gain on sale of property, plant & equipment and businesses		76.4	10.7	120.1
Loss on impairments		(28.3)	(67.9)	(4.6)
Other operating expense, net		(26.4)	(34.0)	(60.5)
Operating earnings		1,427.4	951.4	1,010.8
Other nonoperating income (expense), net		(2.7)	5.1	10.7
Interest income		16.5	0.8	1.6
Interest expense		(196.1)	(169.2)	(149.3)
Earnings from continuing operations before income taxes		1,245.1	788.1	873.8
Income tax (expense) benefit
Current		(343.6)	(133.4)	(133.5)
Deferred		44.2	(59.6)	(66.6)
Total income tax expense		299.4	193.0	200.1
Earnings from continuing operations		945.7	595.1	673.7
Loss on discontinued operations, net of tax		(10.8)	(18.6)	(3.3)
Net earnings		934.9	576.5	670.4
(Earnings) attributable to noncontrolling interest		(1.7)	(0.9)	0.4
Net earnings attributable to Vulcan		933.2	575.6	670.8
Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax
Amortization of prior cash flow hedge loss		1.6	1.5	1.5
Adjustment for funded status of benefit plans		4.2	(6.5)	13.4
Amortization of actuarial loss and prior service cost for benefit plans		5.1	3.0	13.7
Other comprehensive income (loss)		10.9	(2.0)	28.6
Comprehensive income		945.8	574.5	699.0
Comprehensive (earnings) loss attributable to noncontrolling interest		(1.7)	(0.9)	0.4
Comprehensive income attributable to Vulcan		$ 944.1	$ 573.6	$ 699.4
Basic earnings (loss) per share attributable to Vulcan
Continuing operations		$ 7.10	$ 4.47	$ 5.08
Discontinued operations		(0.08)	(0.14)	(0.03)
Net earnings		7.02	4.33	5.05
Diluted earnings (loss) per share attributable to Vulcan
Continuing operations		7.06	4.45	5.05
Discontinued operations		(0.08)	(0.14)	(0.03)
Net earnings		$ 6.98	$ 4.31	$ 5.02
Weighted-average common shares outstanding
Basic		133.0	133.0	132.8
Assuming dilution		133.7	133.6	133.5

[1] ¹ The geographic markets are defined by states/countries as follows: East market — Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington D.C. Gulf Coast market — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Freeport (Bahamas), Puerto Cortés (Honduras) and Quintana Roo (Mexico) West market — Arizona, California, Hawaii, New Mexico and British Columbia (Canada)