October 2025
2025 is seeing construction shovels replace the ceremonial groundbreaking shovels for some of the most transformative and highly anticipated North American megaprojects. These projects stand out not just for their multibillion-dollar investments, but for the priorities driving them—from energy stability and climate imperatives to infrastructure modernization and community growth.
These five megaprojects in the United States and Canada, listed alphabetically, rank among the year’s most significant. (Note: The details provided reflect information available at the time of publishing. Given the dynamic nature of construction, project timelines and costs may evolve.)
Amtrak Susquehanna River Rail Bridge Replacement
Location: Maryland, US
Sector: Transportation
Total Cost: $2.7B
Construction Start: 2025
Anticipated Completion: 2036
Construction has begun on a new Susquehanna River Bridge, set to replace the existing 119-year-old structure with two fixed-span bridges totaling four tracks. The current two-track bridge, built in 1906, is the longest movable bridge along the 457-mile Northeast Corridor spanning from Washington, DC, to Boston.
Over its lifetime, the nearly three-quarter-mile span between Havre de Grace and Perryville, Maryland, has endured multiple rounds of repairs and component replacements. Although still structurally sound, its antiquated design constrains rail capacity and operations. Passenger and freight trains must slow to 90mph and 30mph, respectively, when crossing the bridge, and all rail traffic comes to a stop whenever tall maritime vessels pass below, as a crew of nearly 30 people must manually open the movable span.
The new parallel bridges will modernize this critical link, expanding rail capacity, cutting travel times and enhancing safety for commuter, freight and intercity passenger services along this heavily traveled stretch. With more tracks and higher allowable speeds, passenger trains will move more efficiently, and both rail and maritime traffic will face far fewer delays.
Brightline West High-Speed Rail
Location: California – Nevada, US
Sector: Transportation
Total Cost: $12B
Construction Start: September 2025
Anticipated Completion: 2028
Brightline West, the first US high-speed rail line, promises to ease congestion on Interstate 15, providing long-awaited relief to the tens of millions who travel between Southern California and Las Vegas. Instead of a 3.5-hour drive by car, passengers will cover the distance in just over 2 hours aboard trains reaching up to 200 mph.
Building high-speed rail doesn’t come cheap, and costs were already climbing before construction began. To contain expenses, Brightline opted to establish the western terminal in Rancho Cucamonga rather than downtown Los Angeles and to align the track with an existing interstate rather than acquiring new land. Even with these measures, the price tag is expected to exceed $12 billion.
The project is poised to be an economic catalyst at both ends of the line. In Las Vegas, new resort and sports facility developments are already being discussed. In Rancho Cucamonga—a city of nearly 175,000 located 40 miles east of LA—plans are in motion for hospitality and retail projects around the station to serve the 6 million passengers expected in Brightline’s first 12 months of operation. Expanded transportation connections—including a new bike lane, bus service and a forthcoming underground shuttle to Ontario International Airport—will further enhance the station’s role as a regional hub.
Completion is anticipated in 2028, just in time for the Los Angeles Olympics.
Peter Gilgan Mississauga Hospital and Shah Family Hospital for Women and Children
Location: Ontario, Canada
Sector: Healthcare
Total Cost: CAD $14B (~USD $10.1B)
Construction Start: September 2025
Anticipated Completion: Substantial completion 2033; fully operational 2034
Mississauga is among Ontario’s top three most populous cities. To meet the healthcare needs of roughly 2.2 million area residents, the provincial government is investing $14 billion to expand and modernize local hospital infrastructure, including the forthcoming Peter Gilgan Mississauga Hospital. This project is part of a broader $60 billion provincial plan over the next decade to add 3,000 beds and create a more integrated healthcare system.
At 2.8 million square feet, the new 22-story facility will be the largest teaching hospital in Canada and represents the largest hospital construction project in Canadian history. It will feature 950 private beds (up from 600) to help prevent infections, 23 state-of-the-art operating rooms (up from 14), and one of the country’s largest emergency departments—designed to reduce wait times significantly.
The project also includes the Shah Family Hospital for Women and Children, a pioneering 200,000-square-foot facility offering comprehensive care for reproductive, gynecological, pediatric, and postpartum needs, along with specialized surgical suites and a comprehensive Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
TerraPower Natrium Demonstration Plant
Location: Kemmerer, Wyoming, US
Sector: Energy
Total Cost: $4B
Construction Start: 2025
Anticipated Completion: 2030
TerraPower is leading the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy by constructing an advanced Generation IV nuclear technology reactor called Natrium, whose design is known for its exceptional safety, performance and operational efficiency. Natrium—Latin for sodium—was chosen because the reactor uses liquid sodium rather than water to cool it. The 345-megawatt sodium-cooled fast reactor will replace the Naughton coal plant.
What makes this project especially innovative is the public-private partnership among TerraPower, its partners and the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). ARDP will match the $2 billion provided by the private partners to help cover costs for reactor design, technical development, fuel production and testing facilities—a fuel fabrication plant and sodium test facility.
A demonstration plant differs from a commercial one in that it tests key components in real-world conditions using a full-scale prototype, producing data that informs the safe and efficient implementation of commercial operations. While the enabling works and test & fill facility began in 2024, full non-nuclear construction and broader main build activity are due to start in 2025.
Woodside Louisiana LNG
Location: Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, US
Sector: Energy
Total Cost: $17.5B
Construction Start: 2025
Anticipated Completion: 2029 for first trains
Construction is underway on the massive $17.5 billion Woodside Louisiana LNG facility in Calcasieu Parish, near the Gulf Coast. For Woodside, an Australia-based global energy company, the project represents a step toward achieving global energy security. It’s also a sign of the growing role of foreign investment in US energy production and export.
The first of three trains—processing units that purify and liquefy natural gas—is nearly 25% complete, following an influx of personnel after the final investment decision (FID) and groundbreaking in April. Once operations begin in 2029, the three will eventually produce up to 16.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per annum (Mtpa), with the potential to expand to five trains and a 27.6 Mtpa output.
With demand rising as countries shift away from Russian pipeline gas—since LNG can be shipped internationally where pipelines don’t reach—projects like this position the US as a global energy exporter.
Leveraging Technology to Manage Megaprojects
Across these megaprojects, three key challenges emerge: projecting costs, schedules and risks far in advance; maintaining clear visibility into real-time progress and performance; and navigating uncertainty from political cycles and public funding. With such high stakes, even small inefficiencies, oversights or delays can magnify quickly, leaving little margin for error or stakeholder tolerance. When building advanced infrastructure, leveraging digital tools is essential to keep costs, timelines and stakeholders aligned.
Forecasting demand, costs and timelines years—or even decades—into the future is especially challenging given volatile labor and material markets and shifting political priorities. Predictive analytics addresses this by drawing on historical project data, market trends and real-time inputs to identify where risks are most likely to surface. Project leaders can then test baseline assumptions and run what-if scenarios to understand potential impacts on budgets and schedules. Based on these data-driven projections, they can make proactive adjustments before risks occur or existing issues worsen.
While predictive analytics looks ahead, dashboards focus on the present. They centralize and translate raw project data into a clear visual of current progress and project health, helping teams see whether milestones are being met, which tasks or dependencies are at risk and how actual progress aligns with the plan. Dashboards provide reassurance that work is on track and flag areas needing attention.
Earned value management (EVM) serves as the framework that brings forecasts, dashboards and performance tracking together. It ensures predictive models aren’t just abstract numbers but rather are rooted in actual project progress and spending, turning forecasts into practical insights that inform decision-making. As the project evolves, so does the data that enables ongoing proactive adjustments and cost control. That integration is what turns information into actionable control, allowing project leaders to show accountability to regulatory, financial and community stakeholders—especially where public funding is involved.
Looking at the Big Picture
These five projects showcase the scale, ambition and complexity that characterize modern megaprojects. While each project has a unique purpose, they share common threads—massive investment (including public funding), intricate planning and long timelines that demand flexible strategies to keep budgets and schedules on track. Together, they highlight broader themes, including emerging trends and the ways technology helps deliver on these ambitious goals.
Contruent Enterprise helps companies all over the world manage megaprojects and their costs. Learn more or request a demo today.