Vehicle bridge strikes costed the Australian economy an estimated $101 million in financial year 2024-2025 (FY2025), according to a new report released today by HERE Technologies and the Australian Logistics Council (ALC), with research conducted by HoustonKemp, an economic consulting firm specializing in quantitative analysis and public policy. The study provides the first comprehensive assessment of the economic cost of bridge strikes in Australia, addressing a longstanding gap in national data and highlighting the growing impact of bridge strikes on transport networks, supply chains and communities.

Bridge strikes, where vehicles collide with bridges or other overhead structures due to height incompatibility, are a persistent and increasingly frequent issue across Australia’s road network. The report, conducted by economists at HoustonKemp, estimates that approximately 1,220 incidents occurred in FY2025, with figures rising by around 38% since 2018 and expected to continue increasing alongside freight growth.

A systemic issue with economy-wide impact
Beyond physical damage to infrastructure, bridge strikes create widespread disruption across the transport ecosystem. The report quantifies costs across multiple dimensions, including:

• Infrastructure and vehicle repairs
• Traffic congestion and delays affecting road users
• Rail service disruptions
• Supply chain and business interruption
• Emergency response and healthcare costs

Notably, the impact extends beyond those directly involved in incidents. The study shows that more than 40% of total costs are borne by the broader community, primarily through rail delay, congestion and emergency response.

“Bridge strikes are often perceived as isolated events, but our findings show they are a systemic issue with far-reaching economic and societal consequences,” said Daniel Antonello, General Manager, Oceania, HERE Technologies. “As freight volumes continue to grow, so too will the cost of inaction.”

The economic impact also varies across states. New South Wales contributes the largest share of total costs (34%), followed by Queensland (32%) and Victoria (29%). Despite accounting for a smaller share of total incidents, Victoria incurs a disproportionately higher share of costs, driven by a greater concentration of more severe bridge strikes.

Rising freight demand driving future risk
The concentration of low-clearance infrastructure in urban areas, combined with increasing freight activity, is amplifying the risk of bridge strikes. The report highlights that 97% of incidents occur along Australia’s east coast, reflecting the concentration of freight activity and height-restricted infrastructure in major urban corridors.

Despite many incidents being relatively low in severity, their frequency drives significant cumulative costs. The study finds that the weighted average cost per incident is approximately $82,500, with catastrophic event exceeding $6 million. Notably lower-severity protection beam strikes — where vehicles hit protective structures installed ahead of bridges — accounting for more than half (54%) of total costs due to their high frequency.

Looking ahead, total economic costs are projected to reach $869 million in NPV (Net Present Value) terms over the next ten years, reinforcing the need for more effective prevention strategies.

Unlocking the value of prevention
The report establishes a robust framework for quantifying the full economic impact of bridge strikes, providing road agencies and policymakers with a foundation to:

• Evaluate the effectiveness of existing interventions
• Assess the return on investment of prevention measures, including advanced mapping and navigation technologies
• Prioritize initiatives that reduce both frequency and severity of incidents

“As policymakers and industry look to improve network efficiency and resilience, robust, data-driven insights into the economic impact of bridge strikes are critical to informing smarter, more targeted investments,” said Dr Hermione Parsons, CEO at Australian Logistics Council. “Bridge strikes don’t just damage infrastructure - they disrupt supply chains, delay deliveries and impact productivity across the freight sector. Understanding the true cost of these incidents is an important step toward prioritizing solutions that improve safety and keep goods moving efficiently across Australia.”

“As freight demand continues to grow, this first comprehensive study of the economic cost of bridge strikes in Australia gives policymakers and industry the evidence and framework to assess the value of prevention measures and prioritize those that deliver the greatest gains in network safety, efficiency and resilience,” said Samuel Lam, Economist, HoustonKemp.

The findings reinforce that bridge strikes are largely preventable. While governments and infrastructure operators have invested in measures such as warning signage and height detection systems, incidents continue to occur, highlighting the need for more effective and proactive solutions. Technologies such as in-vehicle height warning systems and advanced route planning solutions can play a critical role by helping drivers avoid low-clearance structures and real-time road restrictions before they are encountered.

About the study
‘The economic costs of bridge strikes in Australia’ was commissioned by HERE Technologies and the Australian Logistics Council (ALC), with independent research conducted by HoustonKemp. Prepared in April 2026, the study develops a comprehensive framework to estimate the economic costs of bridge strikes nationally, based on data from multiple sources and modelling assumptions including government agencies, rail operators, insurers and traffic analytics providers. It assesses costs across physical damage, productivity losses and healthcare impacts to provide a robust estimate of the economic impact.

IMAGE: Torrens to Darlington Alliance (John Holland, Bouygues, Arcadis, Jacobs, Ventia) in partnership with the South Australian Government, Department for Infrastructure and Transport (Australia): have been announced as one of the YII Awards 2026 finalists in the Roads & Highways category for Torrens to Darlington (T2D): Digital delivery for South Australia’s north-south corridor.
Image courtesy Bentley Systems Inc | ©2026 T2D Alliance

Infrastructure engineering software specialists Bentley Systems Inc. recently announced the finalists for its 2026 Year in Infrastructure (YII) Awards program. For more than two decades, the annual awards have celebrated infrastructure professionals and their innovative use of Bentley software to improve how infrastructure is designed, built, and operated.

Selected by independent panels of global industry experts, this year’s finalists demonstrate how infrastructure professionals are leveraging technologies including digital twins and AI to deliver highly efficient project outcomes. In a review of the 36 finalist projects, 24 finalists reported using AI in some form, while 22 showed strong or supporting evidence of a connected digital foundation.

“The YII Awards honour the professionals behind the infrastructure that communities rely on every day,” said Cate Lochead, chief marketing officer, Bentley Systems.

“This year’s finalists show how infrastructure is moving from disconnected files, manual workflows, and periodic inspections to connected information, intelligent automation, and continuous insight. Across the finalists, digital twins, AI, analytics, and connected data help teams make more informed decisions, explore more alternatives faster, and operate infrastructure with greater confidence and resilience.”

“The breadth of projects—from geotechnical and subsurface modelling to wildfire risk and landslide mitigation, coastal and flood infrastructure, and stormwater planning—demonstrate that the future of infrastructure is not just more digital, it is more intelligent,” Ms Lochead added.

Chosen from more than 300 submissions representing 53 countries, the YII Awards 2026 honour projects across 12 categories spanning the infrastructure lifecycle. Finalists were selected for the innovation of their projects, the challenges they addressed, and the results they delivered. Across the submissions, engineers and project teams showed how using Bentley software can help break down information silos, connect data across people and assets, and apply AI to improve decisions and drive measurably better infrastructure.

YII Awards 2026 Finalists in the Bridges & Tunnels category are:

• AYESA Engineering (Portugal): Porto Metro 3.0: Optimizing tunnel design at scale
• Parsons (on behalf of Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) (United States): Talmadge Memorial Bridge: Modernizing a critical Savannah crossing
• SUDOP PRAHA a.s. (Czech Republic): Praha–Beroun Tunnel: Designing Czechia’s largest rail tunnel

The 2026 finalists in the Roads & Highways category are: 

• Burgess & Niple Inc. (United States): US-98: Accelerating design-build through digital innovation
• PT Wijaya Karya (Persero) Tbk (Indonesia): Semarang-Demak Toll Road: Designing for resilience at the edge of the sea
• Torrens to Darlington Alliance (John Holland, Bouygues, Arcadis, Jacobs, Ventia) in partnership with the South Australian Government, Department for Infrastructure and Transport (Australia): Torrens to Darlington (T2D): Digital delivery for South Australia’s north-south corridor

The YII Awards are incorporate an array of other categories, including:

• Cities and facilities
• Construction
• Energy production
• Geospatial and reality modelling
• Project delivery
• Rail and Transit
• Structural Engineering
• Subsurface modelling and analysis
• Transmission and distribution
• Water and wastewater

Finalists will present their projects during Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure event being held at the Fairmont Singapore, October 6-7, 2026. The presentations will focus on the engineering context, project execution, digital methods used, and results achieved.

Bentley will also celebrate select projects with Founders’ Honors. These awards are chosen by Bentley’s founders and executives and recognise projects that reflect Bentley’s purpose of advancing the world’s infrastructure for better quality of life.

For more information about Bentley’s YII Awards 2026, visit Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure site: https://yii.bentley.com

One of the main challenges facing Australia’s infrastructure construction sector stems from the fragmentation of suppliers, which not only causes efficiency issues but also quality control issues.

For this reason, Sarens, world leader in heavy lifting, engineered transport and crane rental services, has begun deploying its integrated solutions in the Australian market under the "Crane+" model. This approach goes beyond conventional equipment rental, offering construction companies, both public and private, a single partner capable of taking on key phases in any project: from geotechnical and piling services to the fabrication of steel structures and heavy land transport using specialized equipment, such as SPMTs (Self-Propelled Modular Transports).

The construction sector in Australia has, for years, been facing significant bottlenecks caused by a shortage of skilled workers. According to estimates from Master Builders Australia, the sector urgently needs to add more than 300,000 specialised infrastructure workers to meet national plans for transport expansion and urban development. Added to this significant staffing pressure are additional challenges, such as uncertainty in material supply or the need to reduce contractor fragmentation to keep timelines on schedule and within pre-established budgets.

Being able to respond to all the needs of construction companies has a clear impact on the construction sector by reducing the potential delays and cost overruns that typically occur when working with multiple suppliers. On the one hand, this is achieved through reduced management complexity, as there is a single technical and contractual point of contact. Furthermore, it helps reduce the labour deficit, as Sarens not only provides the equipment fleet, but also takes responsibility for supplying qualified personnel and specialised engineers to the project, directly helping to solve the labour shortage suffered on site. In addition, efficiency in delivery times is multiplied, as the integration of services avoids downtime between phases.

According to Willem Jobse, Regional Director Oceania at Sarens, "Sarens' Crane+ model responds to the urgent need of contractors to reduce fragmentation on site.”

“By consolidating piling services, steel fabrication, engineering, heavy lifting, and heavy transport via SPMT under a single supplier, construction companies eliminate the operational friction of managing multiple subcontractors, secure the supply of qualified operators, and guarantee a unified technical planning that protects project timelines and budgets,” Mr Jobse added.

Sarens' Crane+ strategy has already proven its utility in large-scale international projects, such as civil and industrial works in Atyrau (Kazakhstan), where the company undertook the excavation of 210,000 m³ of earth and the installation of approximately 18,000 reinforced concrete piles, ensuring strict control over quality and delivery times. By integrating specialized personnel, an in-house fleet, and execution engineering into a single contract, the Crane+ model can help mitigate the impact of the labour shortage in Australia and maximise productivity on the ground.

About Sarens
Sarens is a global leader and reference in crane rental, heavy lift and engineered transportation services. With state-of-the-art equipment, value engineering, one of the world's largest inventories of cranes, transporters and special rigging equipment, Sarens offers creative and intelligent solutions to today's heavy lifting and engineering transport challenges.

With more than 100 entities in 65 countries, Sarens currently employs 5,000 highly qualified professionals. For more, visit: www.sarens.com