Serious concerns are emerging about the condition of critical infrastructure – particularly ageing highways assets – both in the UK and around the world.

Photo credit: Altaf Shah

That is the core theme of the ICE’s State of the Nation 2025 report.

Informed by technical experts from across the UK, the report takes a sector-by-sector look at the main issues facing the industry and the engineering solutions to them.

The report reveals growing disquiet about the resilience of many assets, with bridges causing the most worry.

As the experts told the ICE, parts of the network are “perhaps not as safe as the public thinks, while some structures should have usage restrictions but don’t”.

If such facts were more widely known, they added, the government would have to act.

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