India
India’s New Infrastructure Projects Face Repeated Cracks and Collapses
By Neha Bhatt
In mid‑July, the 63‑kilometre, six‑lane Kanpur‑Lucknow expressway opened after a ₹4,200‑crore investment. The road, inaugurated by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and road transport minister Nitin Gadkari, was expected to cut travel time between the two cities from 2‑3 hours to 30‑40 minutes. By early August, dozens of potholes appeared, forcing the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to partially close the expressway for repairs. The highway became a repair site, with industrial fans, excavators and road rollers working to patch damaged sections, diverting traffic and preventing heavy vehicles from using the route.
In July, a ₹16‑crore approach road near Dehradun’s Nanda Ki Chowki bridge collapsed 16 days after its inauguration. A month earlier, a ₹26‑crore railway road overbridge in Buxar suffered partial structural failure and fell apart days after opening. The Gambhira Bridge in Vadodara district collapsed last July, sending vehicles into the Mahi river, killing 22 people and severing a vital transport link. Less than three years earlier, a 19th‑century suspension bridge in Morbi, Gujarat, collapsed five days after opening during the Diwali season, killing around 140 people, 55 of them children.
India has recently inaugurated several major projects, including the Chenab Rail Bridge, the Sela Tunnel, Mumbai’s Atal Setu and the New Pamban Bridge. Yet, from 2020 to 2025, government figures show 72 projects have collapsed or shown major deficiencies on national highways, while media reports suggest over 170 bridge and flyover failures between 2021 and 2025.
Urban researcher Aravind Unni notes that construction quality and the nature of disasters have changed. He cites the Kanpur‑Lucknow expressway, where a team from IIT Kharagpur found that highly plastic soil under the pavement was weak, lost strength when wet and shifted under heavy loads. Inadequate drainage and unpaved shoulders allowed water to accumulate, further destabilising the base.
Investigations into the Gambhira bridge collapse identified structural failure due to systemic corrosion and fatigue of pedestal and articulation joints. The Morbi collapse was blamed on severe corrosion, shoddy repair work and extreme overcrowding; nearly half of the wires of one main cable were corroded, and old suspenders were welded with new ones.
Construction consultant Devanshu Pandit says India lacks sufficient equipment and manpower, and that contractors are often over‑qualified for the work they undertake. An unnamed ministry official admitted that low bidders are undercutting prices and taking losses to build portfolios.
Central government spending on infrastructure has risen to ₹12.2 trillion ($133 billion) this financial year, driven by a ₹111 trillion national infrastructure pipeline. However, projects worth more than ₹150 crore each have a cumulative cost overrun of about ₹3.4 trillion ($40 billion), and 750+ projects face delays of 12 months to over eight years.
In response, NHAI disqualified the construction firm M/s PNC Infratech Ltd from future bids, issued a show‑cause notice, and directed the company to repair the damaged stretch at its own cost (≈₹3 crore). The Gujarat government suspended four engineers for negligence and launched a statewide safety audit of over 1,800 bridges, closing or restricting many due to structural risks.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has enforced nationwide pre‑ and post‑monsoon bridge inspections, introduced mandatory underwater and scour‑depth assessments for major river crossings, and fast‑tracked real‑time safety data into the Indian Bridge Management System. Independent experts are mandated to conduct root‑cause reviews, and third‑party structural safety clearances are required before traffic resumes on aging or compromised bridges.
MoRTH announced that bridge monitoring will be separated from routine highway contracts and assigned to specialised agencies to detect early deterioration. IIT Madras and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing will develop analytical software for this purpose.
Experts argue that quality should be prioritised from the design stage and monitored throughout a structure’s life. Suresh Bhalla, professor at IIT Delhi, advocates transitioning from reactive to predictive maintenance, integrating real‑time sensor‑driven monitoring to identify anomalies early. The smart structures and dynamics laboratory at IIT Delhi has developed sensor systems and incubated a startup, Sanrachna Prahari Private Limited, to commercialise these technologies.
Urban researcher Unni calls for a shift in design thinking toward environmentally sustainable infrastructure that allows natural water flow and is better aligned with local terrain vulnerabilities. As scrutiny from government bodies, engineering experts and sustainability advocates grows, the aim is to build larger, but also better, infrastructure.