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European transportation infrastructure, most of which was built between 1960 and 1980, is reaching the end of its technical service life. At the same time, transportation networks are largely complete. Countries such as Austria are already investing 54 percent of their funds in maintenance measures, with a forecast of 60 percent by 2029. Germany is even planning to allocate 69 percent of its funds to modernization and maintenance. Condition-based maintenance could save up to €44 billion over the next 20 years.

The European transportation infrastructure market will reach a value of USD 228.65 billion in 2025 and grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 4.14 percent until 2033. Sustainable transportation initiatives are dominating this growth due to EU commitments to reduce emissions. USD 147.6 billion is earmarked specifically for road infrastructure, of which USD 74.4 billion is for structural maintenance and infrastructure replacement. The maintenance rate will rise to 65-70 percent in mature networks.

Engineering firms should develop a comprehensive BIM adoption strategy and invest in IoT-based monitoring systems. Expertise in sustainable building materials and CO₂ balancing is becoming increasingly critical to business. ALLPLAN supports this with direct integration to One Click LCA for life cycle assessment and AI-powered Preoptima solutions for life cycle assessment optimization. Cloud-first strategies with BIMPLUS enable real-time interdisciplinary collaboration.

Condition-based maintenance offers potential savings of at least €44 billion over the next 20 years in Europe. Extending the service life of bridges by 10+ years and reducing tunnel closures by 20-30 percent leads to significant cost savings. IoT-based systems can reduce unplanned outages by 25-30 percent, while automated inspection methods reduce the cost of expensive tunnel and bridge inspections by up to 50 percent.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) creates a comprehensive digital representation of the physical and functional characteristics of infrastructure structures. The German federal government has set itself the goal of applying BIM across the board to federal transportation routes. BIM enables transparent, cross-disciplinary planning processes, reduces errors, and optimizes cost efficiency. Digital twins go one step further and integrate real-time data streams for continuous monitoring.

The EU is pursuing the ambitious goal of a 90 percent reduction in transportation emissions by 2050. This requires annual investments of €870 billion until 2030. The Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy aims to double high-speed rail travel by 2030 and install one million public charging and refueling stations by 2025. The transportation sector is currently responsible for around 25 percent of EU greenhouse gas emissions.

CBM uses sensors and AI algorithms to accurately predict maintenance needs. The technology can extend the service life of bridges by more than 10 years on average and reduce tunnel closures by 20-30 percent.

IoT sensors continuously collect data on vibration, temperature, and pressure and transmit it to cloud-based systems with machine learning. Studies show that IoT-based predictive maintenance can reduce unplanned downtime by 25-30 percent. The global market for predictive maintenance already reached $5.5 billion in 2022 and is growing at an annual rate of 17 percent. Some operators are seeing up to 70 percent fewer unplanned downtimes.

Given that 4.4 billion tons of cement are produced annually, releasing as much CO_₂ as 700 coal-fired power plants, alternative materials are gaining in importance. Biological building materials and 3D printing technologies can drastically reduce the ecological footprint. Robots on construction sites are already drilling autonomously according to data specifications, while industrial prefabrication is shifting the focus to the assembly of prefabricated elements.

ALLPLAN offers a fully integrated design-to-build solution with AI-based visualization tools and smart catalog tools for precise quantity calculations. Seamless integration with BIMPLUS enables cloud-based collaboration, while the GIS Connector allows direct import of GIS data. ALLPLAN offers optimized workflows for road design and supports parametric modeling of bridges, tunnels, retaining walls, and other structures relevant to transportation infrastructure.