Highway, Street, & Bridge Construction Market - Global Forecast 2025-2032

The Highway, Street, & Bridge Construction Market size was estimated at USD 3.14 trillion in 2024 and expected to reach USD 3.33 trillion in 2025, at a CAGR 5.75% to reach USD 4.92 trillion by 2032.

With the United States once again prioritizing infrastructure renewal and expansion, the highway, street, and bridge construction sector has emerged as a cornerstone of national economic resilience. A robust pipeline of state and local government contract awards serves as a leading indicator of forthcoming construction activity, signaling projects scheduled to break ground within the next 30 to 60 days. According to data released by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, state and local governments awarded $22.2 billion in highway and bridge contracts through February 2025, reflecting an increase from $18.8 billion during the same period the previous year. This upward trajectory demonstrates not only the continued impact of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding but also a resurgence in state transportation revenues from bond issues, user-fee adjustments, and dedicated ballot measures, which secured voter approval for significant new resources for transportation projects.

Beyond highway and bridge awards, pavement and street maintenance initiatives have gained momentum as municipalities adapt to aging networks and heightened safety standards. Multi-lane road expansions, arterial street renovations, and commercial and residential street improvements have been bolstered by state allocations, creating demand for specialized maintenance services such as corrective repairs, overlay rehabilitations, and preventive surface treatments. This activity underscores the sector’s dual focus on extending the lifespan of existing assets while simultaneously delivering new construction projects that accommodate rising traffic volumes, freight movements, and evolving multimodal transportation objectives.

As construction teams mobilize across diverse terrains, from urban arterials to rural expressways, this introduction sets the stage for an in-depth exploration of the transformative shifts reshaping project delivery, the cumulative impact of tariff policies on material costs, segmentation insights driving market structure, and strategic regional variations that will define the next era of highway, street, and bridge construction.

The highway, street, and bridge construction landscape is undergoing a profound transformation driven by the convergence of digital innovation, sustainability imperatives, and resilience mandates. Industry leaders are leveraging Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) to enrich digital twin ecosystems, enabling real-time monitoring and predictive analytics for critical infrastructure assets. By integrating extended reality (XR) tools such as augmented and virtual reality into digital twins, project stakeholders can visualize complex networks, simulate maintenance scenarios, and enhance workforce training-all of which accelerate decision-making and reduce downtime.

Equally significant is the shift toward climate-responsive design and construction. With an escalating frequency of extreme weather events, stakeholders are embedding resilience principles into project planning to mitigate flood risks, enhance thermal performance, and ensure long-term asset durability. Forward-thinking agencies are adopting ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) overlays and precast elements to extend service life and minimize life-cycle costs. The Federal Highway Administration’s recent emphasis on UHPC workshops and design frameworks underscores its growing role in bridge deck rehabilitation and primary structural applications, reflecting a commitment to accelerated delivery and environmental performance.

Simultaneously, modular construction techniques and prefabrication are streamlining field assembly and reducing on-site labor requirements, while the circular economy paradigm is driving the use of recycled content and low-carbon binder materials. Public-private partnerships and outcome-based contracting models are proliferating, aligning incentives across stakeholders to deliver optimized infrastructure solutions. As global supply chains recalibrate, digital platforms are facilitating enhanced collaboration among contractors, material providers, and government agencies. These transformative shifts are converging to create a future in which infrastructure networks are not only more efficient and cost-effective but also more sustainable, resilient, and responsive to evolving societal needs.

In 2025, the United States reinstated and then expanded Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs, which have had lasting consequences for the highway, street, and bridge construction industry. In February, a presidential proclamation restored a full 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports by closing exemptions and strengthening “melted and poured” domestic-origin requirements. This move aimed to bolster U.S. steel capacity but also introduced immediate price increases for imported materials, tightening competition and elevating procurement costs for contractors.

On March 12, 2025, the tariff regime was further broadened to include all countries and an expanded list of downstream steel and aluminum products. This revision eliminated product exclusion processes and phased out general approved exclusions, triggering concerns about supply-chain bottlenecks as domestic mills faced surging demand. Federal agencies and large contractors began revising contractual clauses to incorporate price escalation and substitution provisions, striving to maintain project schedules amid material cost volatility.

A third tariff adjustment on June 4 raised duties to 50% for most steel and aluminum imports, with temporary exceptions for steel from the United Kingdom under the U.S.-U.K. Economic Prosperity Deal. This doubling of tariffs underscored a strategic emphasis on national security but also propelled material expenses higher, with ripple effects on budgeting and scheduling. According to legal analyses, the steeper levies have already led to supply shortages, longer lead times, and potential project delays as contractors and public agencies grapple with a constrained domestic steel market and elevated risk of cost overruns.

The cumulative impact of these tariff measures has been a recalibration of procurement strategies, heightened focus on domestic mill capacity expansion, and renewed emphasis on compliance with stricter origin requirements. While supporters argue that these policies revitalize U.S. steel production, critics highlight that higher costs will be passed through to public owners and taxpayers, potentially constraining project scopes or triggering the reprioritization of maintenance and rehabilitation over new construction initiatives. As the industry adapts to this new tariff environment, contractors are increasingly exploring alternative materials, lean construction methods, and collaborative contracting frameworks to mitigate cost pressures and preserve infrastructure delivery objectives.

The highway, street, and bridge construction market exhibits a complex structure across multiple segmentation dimensions, each defining specialized service offerings, target assets, material choices, customer profiles, and project scales. By service type, projects are categorized into maintenance and rehabilitation activities-ranging from corrective base and pothole repairs to preventive crack sealing, micro surfacing, and overlay rehabilitation-and into new construction endeavors encompassing bridge, road, and street construction methods. Bridge projects further differentiate between prestressed concrete and steel designs, while road construction segments include multi-lane expressways and two-lane configurations, and street construction addresses both commercial and residential street environments.

Structure type introduces another layer of segmentation, distinguishing bridge assets-such as arch and beam configurations-from highway corridors that span expressways and freeways, and from arterial street networks. Construction materials also segment the market into asphalt paving-with sectors in hot mix and warm mix asphalt-and concrete paving, which bifurcates into continuously reinforced concrete pavements and jointed plain concrete pavements. Customer end users split the landscape into public sector entities-including federal and municipal government agencies-and private sector stakeholders like developers and road toll operators, each driven by distinct procurement cycles and regulatory frameworks.

Project size further stratifies opportunities, from large-scale initiatives exceeding five million dollars to medium projects valued between one and five million dollars, down to small projects under one million dollars, which themselves range from under five hundred thousand dollars to the half-million-to-one-million-dollar bracket. Each size tier demands tailored project management capabilities, risk assessments, and resource allocations. By overlaying these segmentation lenses, industry participants can align their service portfolios, technical expertise, and investment strategies with the most relevant opportunities, ensuring resource optimization and competitive positioning in a dynamically evolving infrastructure environment.

Regional dynamics play a pivotal role in the highway, street, and bridge construction market, shaping investment patterns, regulatory landscapes, and technological adoption across the Americas, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Asia-Pacific regions. In the Americas, the United States and Canada continue to channel significant federal and provincial funding into highway and bridge programs, while Latin American countries prioritize connectivity enhancement to support economic corridors and trade facilitation. North American projects often lean on advanced materials like ultra-high performance concrete and sophisticated digital asset management systems, reflecting mature market demands.

In Europe, Middle East & Africa, infrastructure modernization is driven by urban congestion, climate resilience objectives, and European Union regulatory frameworks that emphasize sustainability and life-cycle optimization. Western European nations deploy modular construction techniques and green pavements, while emerging African markets focus on basic connectivity and maintenance programs to foster socio-economic development. The Middle East’s infrastructure vision incorporates smart road networks and dedicated lane management systems to support growing urban populations and logistics hubs.

The Asia-Pacific region is characterized by rapid urbanization and ambitious maritime gateway projects. China, Australia, and Southeast Asian nations invest heavily in high-speed expressways and complex bridge engineering feats to cope with traffic surges and intermodal freight demands. Within this market, private-public collaboration models and build-operate-transfer arrangements are prevalent, allowing for risk-sharing and innovation financing. Regional variation in regulatory standards, procurement practices, and material availability necessitates localized expertise and adaptive delivery models for companies seeking to expand their geographic footprint.

Leading companies in highway, street, and bridge construction are leveraging innovation, strategic partnerships, and geographic diversification to secure market leadership. Major global contractors with robust highway and bridge portfolios are expanding digital capabilities through dedicated centers of excellence in virtual design and construction, integrating BIM-based workflows and data-driven maintenance platforms to deliver complex projects with enhanced precision and efficiency.

Several industry stalwarts are also embracing sustainability and resilience as core pillars of their service offerings, forming alliances with material technology firms to develop low-carbon cement alternatives and smart pavement solutions that monitor structural health in real time. Joint ventures between engineering leaders and local suppliers are accelerating the deployment of advanced prefabrication facilities, enabling faster cycle times and consistent quality while mitigating labor shortages.

Simultaneously, select firms are pursuing acquisitions in emerging markets to gain footholds in high-growth corridors, adapting global best practices to local conditions while optimizing supply chains. By investing in public-private partnership models, these companies are aligning long-term revenue streams with performance-based contracting, unlocking opportunities for design-build-finance-operate frameworks. As a result, leading players are poised to capture disproportionate shares of the most sophisticated infrastructure programs, reinforcing their reputations for reliability, technical innovation, and stakeholder collaboration.

To navigate the complexities and capitalize on emerging opportunities in highway, street, and bridge construction, industry leaders should pursue a multi-faceted strategy that balances innovation, collaboration, and sustainability. First, investing aggressively in digital transformation-particularly AIoT-enabled asset management platforms and digital twin environments-will enhance predictive maintenance, reduce unplanned downtime, and optimize life-cycle costs. Embedding data analytics capabilities within project teams ensures continuous improvement and informed decision-making.

Second, fostering strong relationships with domestic material producers can mitigate tariff-driven supply constraints and stabilize procurement pipelines. By collaborating on capacity expansion plans and exploring consortium partnerships, contractors and agencies can anticipate future material demands and secure priority access. Concurrently, diversifying material portfolios with recyclable and low-carbon alternatives will align projects with environmental mandates and public expectations.

Third, structured engagement in public-private partnerships offers risk-sharing mechanisms and incentivizes performance-based innovations. Industry participants should develop flexible contracting frameworks that include price escalation clauses, design-build-finance-operate options, and outcome-based metrics tied to resilience and sustainability targets. This approach aligns the interests of public owners, investors, and contractors, unlocking new financing avenues.

Finally, strengthening workforce capabilities through immersive training programs-leveraging XR and simulation technologies-will equip teams to adopt emerging techniques, from modular assembly methods to advanced materials integration. By cultivating a culture of continuous learning and innovation, organizations can adapt swiftly to regulatory changes, supply disruptions, and evolving client demands, ensuring sustained competitiveness in an increasingly dynamic infrastructure environment.

This research employs a rigorous methodology combining primary and secondary data collection, analytical frameworks, and validation techniques to ensure robust insights into the highway, street, and bridge construction sector. Secondary research encompasses a comprehensive review of public sources, including federal and state transportation agency reports, industry association publications, regulatory filings, and academic literature on emerging technologies and materials. Key datapoints are corroborated with proprietary databases and industry dashboards.

Primary research involved structured interviews and workshops with senior executives from leading engineering firms, material suppliers, government procurement officials, and end users. These engagements provided qualitative perspectives on market dynamics, tariff impacts, segment priorities, and regional variances. Quantitative analysis leveraged a segmentation framework stratifying the market by service type, structure type, construction material, end user, and project size tiers, facilitating targeted insights and scenario modeling.

Triangulation methodologies were applied to cross-validate findings, using multiple data sources and analytical tools. Hypotheses on tariff effects and technological adoption were stress-tested through case study analyses of representative projects across major regions. The report’s analytical integrity is reinforced by peer review from subject matter experts and an advisory panel comprising infrastructure finance and policy specialists.

The highway, street, and bridge construction industry is at a pivotal juncture, shaped by converging forces of digital innovation, sustainability mandates, and policy shifts. Advanced technologies-from AIoT-enabled digital twins to ultra-high performance concrete and modular prefabrication-are revolutionizing project delivery and long-term asset management. At the same time, reinstated and enhanced tariff policies have introduced material cost uncertainties that require strategic procurement and supply-chain resilience.

Segmentation analysis underscores that diverse market segments-from corrective maintenance and large-scale bridge projects to neighborhood street renewals-demand tailored approaches to resource allocation, technical expertise, and contractual flexibility. Regional distinctions highlight how funding mechanisms, regulatory frameworks, and economic development imperatives drive unique investment patterns across the Americas, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

Leading companies are responding with integrated service models that blend digital capabilities, sustainability solutions, and performance-based contracting. For industry leaders, the path forward hinges on collaborative partnerships, adaptive business models, and workforce upskilling strategies that can absorb disruption while seizing new opportunities. By aligning strategic initiatives with evolving market realities, stakeholders can deliver resilient, cost-effective infrastructure that meets both current demands and future challenges.

Don't miss the opportunity to gain a competitive edge in the high-stakes world of highway, street, and bridge construction. Connect with Ketan Rohom, Associate Director, Sales & Marketing, to explore how this comprehensive market research report provides the strategic insights and actionable intelligence you need to make informed decisions and stay ahead of industry trends. Reach out today and transform your approach to infrastructure investment and project planning.