Impacts of Local Socio-Economic-Political Constraints on the Selection of Bridge Type, Form, and Aesthetics

This article discusses the problem of ‘Template Bridge’ building practices adopted in India. The ‘Template Bridges’ are designed and built in most traditional ways using age old proven methods without any consideration for structural aesthetics, efficiency, or innovation in the process of building these bridges. These ‘Template Bridges’ though able to serve their function, lack in aesthetic value and disregard engineering efficiency and innovation. These bridges do not incorporate sustainability and resilience criteria into their design or construction methods. The authors attempt to dig deeper into social, economic, and political constraints that stifle engineers and constructors to innovate and evolve new structural forms that help build sustainable and efficient bridges. The authors present a detailed discussion about these social, economic, and political constraints and their impacts on bridge efficiency, form, and function by providing case studies. The authors conclude that overcoming these constraints, and investing in our engineering and human resources will pave the way to building novel and sustainable bridge infrastructure.