Civil infrastructure development will be essential to face the interlinked existential threats of climate change and rising resource demands while ensuring a livable Anthropocene. However, conventional infrastructure planning largely neglects the contributions and maintenance of Earth’s ecological life support systems, which make massive and irreplaceable contributions to human well-being. The stability and performance of these systems depends on biodiversity. In this talk, we present a vision for a new paradigm in infrastructure development and implementation wherein biodiversity and the numerous ecosystem services it supports are a central objective of civil engineering projects. In particular, we envision an approach in which 1) ecosystem integrity and species conservation are explicit objectives of infrastructure design and management, 2) infrastructure management integrates conventional and nature-based engineering solutions, and 3) ecosystem functions reinforce and enhance the performance and lifespan of conventional infrastructure projects. We argue that there is extensive precedent for this ambitious vision in existing legal frameworks and professional practices, as well as moral and economic justification for mainstreaming biodiversity in infrastructure management decisions. Finally, we set an applied research agenda for supporting this vision, and highlight financial, professional, and policy pathways for achieving it.