Many of India’s busiest bridges were constructed decades ago, long before the present-day traffic load and rate of economic expansion could have been anticipated. Despite their age, these structures still support daily loads for which they were never designed. These bridges are burdened more and more each year, and each inspection detail that is overlooked puts them one step closer to failure. Using only traditional monitoring techniques in such a situation is a risk that India can no longer afford.
According to the Press Information Bureau, Government of India, there are over 1,72,517 bridges in India. Many of them serve as essential connections between cities, states, rural communities, and industrial corridors. However, the catastrophic Morbi bridge collapse in Gujarat in 2022 and other incidents in less well-known areas have revealed a concerning weakness in the way these structures are inspected. The current technique still heavily relies on manual measurements and visual surveys. Despite their potential utility, these inspections are constrained by the human eye and frequently fail to identify the subtle corrosion and micro-level distortions that can eventually compromise safety.
Failure risk is not hypothetical. According to a report by the American Society of Civil Engineers, even with the implementation of more sophisticated monitoring techniques, approximately 6.8% of bridges in the US are in a poor condition. The issue is much bigger in India, where many bridges are much older and inspections are still mostly done manually. This gap highlights the urgency of adopting more advanced methods for assessing structural health before small defects escalate into dangerous failures.
For this very reason, 3D scanning becomes an important part of bridge inspections as hundreds of data points are recorded in seconds, keeping the entire team on track which then produces a digital model of the structure. With the help of these models and tools, engineers can now examine alignment changes, cracks and even minute sagging or surface issues that usually go unnoticed.
A bridge’s ageing cycle and the success of past repairs can be observed with this tech’s capacity to contrast scans across time. Authorities are able to act much earlier, instead of waiting for degradation, by moving away from reactive repairs towards predictive maintenance.
The advantages have already been demonstrated around the world. Technologies that are digital and scanning-based can improve efficiency and make defect detection more accurate. National Highways in the UK states that its high-end non-destructive testing efforts under its Structures’ Moonshot program have seen materially improved condition analysis and reduced disruption during inspection .
As we know, massive disasters such as earthquakes and floods are prevalent in Japan. As a result of this, road and bridge collapse from minor damage to severe collapse is always a risk, calling for immediate inspection after such occurrences. Governments utilise 3D models obtained from standard inspections to accurately represent the state of a bridge after a disaster. These computer models provide a checkpoint that allows inspectors to detect variations immediately, measure the extent of the damage, and plan on-time treatments without being delayed by speculation or inadequate information.
Implementing 3D scanning in India involves more than merely keeping pace with international best practices. Establishing an open and founded infrastructure safety system is the intention. And to achieve this, each bridge must have a digital record that is kept current on an ongoing basis so that contractors and policymakers have improved data to make more informed decisions about repair priorities and budgets. The building information modelling systems can also be linked to the digital profiles, and long-term asset management can be supported, augmenting the government’s broad objective of intelligent and resilient infrastructure.
Bridge collapses are not just the result of structural failures; they are also a reflection of poor planning, oversight, and accountability. There are already ways to prevent such disasters, and the cost of ignoring them is measured in terms of lives lost and economies that are disrupted. Making 3D scanning a requirement for bridge inspections would be a significant step in protecting Indians and enhancing the reliability of the country’s essential infrastructure.
Industry leaders in modern geospatial and scanning technology like Trimble have already shown how these innovations could transform inspection processes. But we believe, that to enhance the construction and maintenance of Bridges and Infrastructure, India can establish new benchmarks and increase the resilience and safety for future generations.