Indian Bridge Management System, a major step towards safety: Nitin Gadkari

NEW DELHI: To ensure proper and timely upkeep of bridges, the government has started creating a database of these structures, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said today.

"Poor condition of bridges hampers efficient transport and has also led to accidents and loss of lives on several occasions ... Indian Bridge Management System ( IBMS) aims to fill this gap by preparing a data base of all bridges in the country and detailing their structural condition so that timely action can be taken to repair the structures or build new ones in their place," the Road, Transport and Highways Minister said.

Formally launching the IBMS here, the minister said lack of any database on bridges has led to a situation where it proved maintaining their proper upkeep difficult.

IBMS is the largest platform in the world owned by a single owner, with database that could exceed 1,50,000 bridge structures. So far 1,15,000 bridges have been inventorised, of which 85,000 are culverts and the rest are bridges.

"IBMS is being developed to create an inventory of all bridges in the country and rate their structural condition so that timely repair and rehabilitation work can be carried out based on the criticality of the structure," he said.

In addition to the structural rating, the bridges are also being assigned Socio-Economic Bridge Rating Number which will decide the importance of the structure in relation to its contribution to daily socio-economic activity of the area.