Old major NH bridges to get smart sensors for early warning alerts | India News
New Delhi: For continuous ‘health monitoring’ of large and extra-long old bridges on NHs, highway owning agencies will now install advanced sensors for early warning of abnormal behavior so that corrective action can be taken before an accident.The Road Transport Ministry has issued a standard tender document (RFP) for procurement of continuous structure monitoring systems for bridges that highway owning agencies and their engineers can use to invite bids. This is significant considering that there is a dire need to monitor the behavior of old major bridges in the country’s NH network.While installing sensors to monitor bridge health is part of new major bridges, older bridges do not have a large number of sensors, officials said. “We need to ensure that old bridges are monitored continuously. Now regional officials of NHAI, road transport ministry and NHIDCL can use the document to engage the agencies,” said an official.The appointed companies will be responsible for supply, installation, commissioning and long-term operation and maintenance of advanced instruments designed to track the structural integrity of bridges in real time. This includes deploying a wide range of sensors, including hardware for data acquisition, transmission and reporting, enabling authorities to detect early warning signs of stress, damage or failure.According to the document, such works will be divided into two phases – the first phase of six months for installation and commissioning of the bridge health monitoring system and the second phase will consist of operation and maintenance of the system, ensuring snag-free functioning for a minimum of 10 years.
