The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways plans to centralize the software platform for real-time bridge health monitoring by involving the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and the Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), even as supply, installation and maintenance of sensors are awarded separately through competitive bidding under a new unified tendering model for all upcoming projects.
In a circular dated July 6, the ministry said all Bridge Health Monitoring System (BHMS) components in highway contracts, where physical work has not yet begun, should be removed and re-tendered using the new RFP form. The move aims to create a unified framework for deploying real-time continuous monitoring systems on bridges across the national highway network.
The implementing agencies, including state public works departments for central government-funded projects, National Highways Authority of India, National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, Border Roads Organization and other agencies implementing centrally sponsored highway projects, will have to remove the scope of works of BHMS from contracts where implementation has not commenced, as per the provisions of the contract or concession agreement concerned, the circular said.
For projects where BHMS installation has begun, implementing agencies may continue under the existing contractual arrangement. They must submit details of these bridges, including the contractor or concessionaire and the BHMS service provider, to the ministry’s standards and research wing within 30 days. Failing that, the department said it would assume that the scope of the BHMS component had been de-scoped in accordance with the new guidance.
Analyzing data from bridge sensors is a very complex exercise, as there is often a lot of white noise, said GM Chandra Kishen, a professor of civil engineering at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru. He said centralization would help bring uniformity in how data is collected to help with better management.
The ministry had earlier directed all road-owning agencies, including state public works departments, to complete the digital inventory survey of bridges nationwide by September 30 under the Indian Bridge Management System’s Bridge Database to support scientific monitoring, maintenance and timely interventions.
There have been several bridge collapses in recent years. The collapse of the Morbi Suspension Bridge in Gujarat in October 2022 killed at least 141 people. In 2025, four people were killed in a bridge collapse near Pune. The collapse of the Gambira Bridge in Gujarat in July 2025 killed 22 people.
