A concrete highway bridge under construction over a turquoise mountain river with a tower crane

Data · State of the infrastructure

The state of Canada’s public infrastructure

What it would cost to replace, how much of it is wearing out, who owns it, and how old it is: Statistics Canada’s Core Public Infrastructure Survey, read as a work pipeline.

Replacement value

$2.6 trillion of roads, bridges and water systems

Public transportation and water infrastructure would cost $2.6 trillion to replace at 2022 prices. Local and regional governments own 72% of it.⁴⁴

Roads $1162.4B

Bridges & tunnels $294.9B

Potable water $357.3B

Wastewater $359.0B

Stormwater $246.6B

Very poorPoorFair or better, or unratedFigure at right = total replacement value

Replacement values from Statistics Canada Table 34-10-0284-01, 2022 reference year.⁵

Condition

Share of each asset class in poor or very poor condition

“Poor” means less than 40% of expected service life remains; “very poor”, less than 10%.² Hatched bars are assets whose condition the owner did not report.

Roads14.8%²

Bridges14.6%²

Culverts ≥ 3 m11.5%²

Tunnels7.3%²

Potable water pipe14.3%²

Wastewater pipe12.5%²

Stormwater pipe & ditch6.8%²

Storm culverts < 3 m12.4%²

Water treatment7.8%²

Wastewater treatment10.3%²

Sidewalks8.6%²

Very poorPoorUnknown

Inventory

How much there is

The public network Canada’s civil contractors build, maintain and renew, 2022 reference year.

1,017,872two-lane-equivalent km of public road¹

48,360publicly owned bridges¹

34,908culverts 3 m or wider¹

538public tunnels¹

221,532km of potable water pipe¹

164,048km of sewer pipe and forcemain¹

526,628km of stormwater pipe, culvert and ditch¹

145,783km of sidewalk¹

3,325water treatment facilities¹

1,648wastewater treatment plants¹

2,329wastewater lagoon systems¹

Age

How old it is

Statistics Canada’s Infrastructure Economic Accounts estimate the average age of infrastructure across all owners. These are model-based national accounts estimates, a different basis from the survey above.

13.1 yrsAll infrastructure: average age, 2025³

10.8 yrsHighways and roads: average age, 2025³

9.1 yrsBridges: average age, 2025³

16.7 yrsWaterworks: average age, 2025³

19 yrsWater filtration plants: average age, 2025³

16.8 yrsSewage infrastructure: average age, 2025³

What it means for the work

Where the renewal pipeline is

The condition data describe a renewal backlog more than a new-build boom. Roughly one in seven kilometres of public road and one in seven public bridges were rated poor or very poor in 2022²², and $250.2 billion of road assets sat in those two categories⁴. Water systems are in better shape by share, but the pipe network is enormous: 221,532 km of potable water pipe alone¹.

Because local and regional governments own most of this infrastructure⁴, most of the work reaches contractors through municipal tenders, funded partly by federal transfers such as the Build Communities Strong Fund. See infrastructure funding programs, municipal infrastructure and where tenders are posted.

Sources

Table 34-10-0287-01 Inventory of core public infrastructure assetsStatistics Canada · 2022 ref year; released 2025-02-04
Table 34-10-0288-01 Inventory distribution of core public infrastructure assets by physical condition ratingStatistics Canada · 2022 ref year; released 2025-02-04
Table 36-10-0611-01 Infrastructure Economic Accounts, average age and remaining useful service life ratio by asset and asset functionStatistics Canada · 2025; released 2026-06-12
The Daily - Canada's Core Public Infrastructure Survey: Replacement values, 2022Statistics Canada · 2022-12-31; released 2024-10-21
Table 34-10-0284-01 Estimated replacement value, required renewal budget and actual renewal expenditures of core public infrastructure assets, by physical condition ratingStatistics Canada · 2022 ref year; released 2025-06-24