In the blog, let’s talk infrastructure. I love talking infrastructure because it’s more than concrete and steel. It’s the backbone of the industry and I have been writing about the industry for more than two decades. Okay, we are closing in on three decades. But with age comes a lot of experience. During those years, I’ve had the privilege to learn from some of the best and brightest minds in construction. And if you have been reading closely then you already know—the infrastructure sector isn’t just growing, it’s driving the future. We are looking at you data centers.
But wait—what about civil infrastructure? Are we truly seeing sustained growth, and how might the industry respond? A recent report offers some indicators that might suggest the market could be slowing, if only slightly. Could this be the first sign of a shift? Will this start to raise even more questions?
FMI Corp., released its 2025 Civil Infrastructure Construction Index: Fourth Quarter in November. Here’s what it found. The fourth quarter index closed at 50.6, down slightly from 50.8 in the third quarter, signaling a steady but slowing market environment. Perhaps this comes as no surprise: public infrastructure is sustaining activity while private work softens, and many backlogs are tied to federally funded projects.
Could legislation such as the SPEED (Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development) act speed up projects? This is what U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) hope will happen with this reform bill with changes for NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act), a federal law enacted in 1970 that mandates review of potential environmental impacts on projects.
Many organizations support the SPEED legislation. For example, the ACEC (American Council of Engineering Companies) strongly supports responsible environmental review but also notes today’s permitting process has grown from months to years delaying vital infrastructure improvements and driving up costs for taxpayers.
The bipartisan SPEED act aims to preserve environmental protections while defining agency responsibilities and reducing inefficiencies. The objective is to help deliver infrastructure projects faster and more efficiently. Of course, this is only one example.
The big takeaways in FMI Corp.’s 2025 Civil Infrastructure Construction Index are competition and margin pressure are rising, and cost and labor pressures persist.
The labor conversation continues to play a pivotal role in how civil-infrastructure projects advance—or stall. Across the sector, contractors are grappling with a persistent shortage of skilled workers. Even as federally funded projects create steady demand, companies report difficulty sourcing experienced craft labor and field supervisors, which in turn contributes to schedule delays and elevated labor costs.
Workforce development programs and apprenticeship pipelines are helping, but not at a pace that fully meets today’s project volumes. As the industry navigates rising competition and tighter margins, the ability to attract, train, and retain skilled labor will remain a defining factor in overall project performance and long-term growth.
Looking ahead, the 2025 Civil Infrastructure Construction Index suggests companies are planning steady, organic growth through 2028, and are prioritizing capacity, ROI (return on investment), and strategic hiring rather than expansion. What are you planning for the years ahead?
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