Dublin, Jan. 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Smart Highway Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2021-2031" has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The Global Smart Highway Market is projected to expand significantly, rising from USD 56.83 Billion in 2025 to USD 144.96 Billion by 2031, reflecting a CAGR of 16.89%.
These intelligent roadways employ cutting-edge technologies like the Internet of Things, big data analytics, and sensor arrays to supervise traffic patterns, improve safety protocols, and maximize energy conservation. Key factors fueling this growth include the urgent need for secure transportation networks to counter increasing accident frequencies and the worldwide drive toward smart city unification. Furthermore, government programs designed to lower carbon emissions and ease congestion through advanced traffic management systems provide continued support for market advancement.
A major obstacle hindering market growth is the immense capital required to install and modernize intelligent infrastructure. As noted by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the United States faces a funding shortfall of $684 billion over the coming decade, starting in 2025, to adequately maintain and upgrade its road networks. This financial gap underscores the challenges governments encounter in financing infrastructure initiatives, which limits the immediate ability to scale smart highway technologies across wider geographic areas.
Market Drivers
Significant government expenditure on infrastructure modernization acts as a major driver for the Global Smart Highway Market. Public authorities are allocating funds to upgrade road networks with digital tools to improve connectivity and operational performance, enabling the rollout of Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) systems and smart sensors crucial for future mobility. For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced in December 2024, in the 'USDOT Issues $130M Worth of SMART Program Grants' release, that it had awarded over $130 million to 42 technology demonstration projects. This specific funding is supported by broader infrastructure efforts; the American Road & Transportation Builders Association reported that state and local governments awarded $22.2 billion in highway and bridge contracts through February 2025 alone, indicating a strong climate for embedding intelligent technologies into growing road systems.
Rising global traffic congestion further drives the need for intelligent management solutions. Rapid urbanization has resulted in gridlock that imposes heavy economic burdens, forcing cities to implement AI-driven monitoring and adaptive signal controls. These systems optimize traffic movement in real-time, drastically cutting travel delays and fuel usage. According to the '2024 Global Traffic Scorecard' released by INRIX in January 2025, congestion cost the United States roughly $74 billion in lost time and productivity throughout 2024. This financial strain hastens the demand for smart highway technologies that feature automated incident detection and dynamic routing to lessen the operational and financial effects of overcrowded transport corridors.
Market Challenges
The immense capital outlay needed to deploy and upgrade intelligent infrastructure constitutes a major hurdle for the Global Smart Highway Market. Incorporating advanced technologies like sensors, data analytics, and connectivity layers into existing road networks entails steep upfront costs that frequently surpass available public and private funding. These financial pressures compel decision-makers to favor essential maintenance over technological upgrades, resulting in the postponement or cancellation of vital smart highway projects. Consequently, the struggle to obtain consistent funding limits the scalability of these initiatives, hindering the market from attaining widespread adoption and momentum.
This economic pressure is worsened by fluctuating construction costs and supply chain volatility, which directly obstruct progress. As reported by the Associated General Contractors of America in 2024, more than 70% of construction companies experienced project delays attributed to material shortages or price surges. Such disruptions increase the already substantial capital needs, making it increasingly challenging for stakeholders to commit to long-term infrastructure investments. These budget overruns and delays directly impede market expansion by depleting resources that could otherwise be dedicated to deploying new technologies, thereby decelerating the overall evolution of global transportation networks.
Market Trends
The broad acceptance of Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) communication standards is fundamentally transforming highway interconnectivity by facilitating direct, low-latency data transfer between roadside infrastructure and vehicles. This trend signifies a major shift away from legacy short-range communications, as stakeholders favor cellular protocols that support cooperative traffic maneuvers and real-time safety alerts without dependence on continuous network coverage. Momentum for this technology is building as industry plans align with regulatory standards to guarantee cross-border and cross-manufacturer interoperability. In its 'Roadmap for Advanced Driving Use Cases, Connectivity, and Technologies' report from December 2024, the 5G Automotive Association predicts that mass deployment of 5G-V2X Direct-enabled vehicles will begin between 2026 and 2029, laying the groundwork for autonomous driving support systems.
Concurrently, the market is observing the rise of dynamic wireless electric vehicle charging lanes, a revolutionary technology enabling EVs to recharge batteries while in motion. This innovation tackles key obstacles to electrification, such as charging downtime and range anxiety, by integrating inductive coils directly into road surfaces to transmit energy to passing vehicles. These systems are transitioning from experimental stages to operational public deployments, proving the feasibility of electrified roadways for transit and commercial fleets. According to a September 2024 report by the Michigan Department of Transportation on 'Electreon Wireless Charging Performance Results,' a pilot shuttle on the nation's first public wireless charging road in Detroit successfully absorbed 101.5 kWh of energy wirelessly while driving, removing the necessity for plug-in charging during the detailed operation phase.
Key Players Profiled in the Smart Highway Market:
- ALE International
- Cisco Systems Inc.
- IBM Corporation
- Indra Sistemas SA
- Infineon Technologies AG
- Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.
- Kapsch AG
- LG Electronics Inc.
- Schneider Electric SE
- Siemens AG
Report Scope: In this report, the Global Smart Highway Market has been segmented into the following categories:
Smart Highway Market, by Technology:
- Smart Transport Management System
- Smart Traffic Management System
- Others
Smart Highway Market, by Component:
- Hardware
- Software
Smart Highway Market, by Region:
- North America
- Europe
- Asia-Pacific
- South America
- Middle East & Africa
Key Attributes:
| Report Attribute | Details |
| No. of Pages | 185 |
| Forecast Period | 2025 - 2031 |
| Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2025 | $56.83 Billion |
| Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2031 | $144.96 Billion |
| Compound Annual Growth Rate | 16.8% |
| Regions Covered | Global |
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/u4kggl
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