Bihar will use AI to ensure pothole-free roads, safe bridges: Minister Nitin Navin

New Delhi: Bihar will use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to ensure pothole-free roads and safety of bridges spread across the state, Bihar Road Construction Minister Nitin Navin has said.

Talking to DH the minister said that the third phase of the Output and Performance-based Road Maintenance Contract (OPRMC) initiative would be launched in 2026 for seven years.

The initiative was first introduced in 2014 for five years. The second phase, which started in 2019, is underway. The scope of monitoring has been successively widened and now the government eyes to tap modern technology to enhance effectiveness and accountability.

In the third phase the length of the roads under the OPRMC monitoring system is proposed to be increased to 20,000 km from 4,500 km in the first phase and 12,000 km in the second phase.

The third phase will cover all the major roads developed by the state government, including state highways and district roads. However, it will not be applicable to the National Highways, which is developed and maintained by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Bihar, which has been in news for frequent incidents of bridge collapses in the past couple of years, has outlined plans to prepare digital health records of around 3,900 bridges.

“There will be a QR code for all small and big bridges. Just by scanning the QR code you will be able to see all the records like year of construction, maintenance status etc,” Navin said.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led government has formulated a new policy called ‘Bihar State Bridge Management and Maintenance Policy, 2025’ to enhance safety and efficiency of state-maintained bridges.

The policy, which was approved by the state cabinet recently, is the state-level framework in India dedicated to systematic bridge maintenance.

The Bihar government has tied up with IIT Delhi and IIT Patna for conducting safety audits of the bridges. Based on the audit, all bridges will be assigned a unique quick response code (QR code).

Artificial intelligence and machine learning based software will be used in this exercise, which is likely to be completed in a year.

In a bid to enhance the technical expertise of its engineers, the Bihar State Road Construction Department has tied up with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.

Under this deal, selected Bihar government engineers will be given 6-month training at IIT Delhi in AI-driven bridge design, monitoring and maintenance. This will help reduce the state’s reliance on private consultants for high-tech services.

Poll-bound Bihar has been a major focus of funds allocated for road projects by Prime Minister Narendra Modi government in recent months.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently claimed that Bihar has received projects worth Rs 4 lakh crore for roads and bridges, Rs 1 lakh crore for railway projects, and Rs 2,000 crore for airport projects, in the past 10 years.