A first: Chandigarh takes to AI for smarter road development

In a first-of-its-kind initiative aimed at transparent, efficient and need-based infrastructure development, the Chandigarh Administration has adopted cutting-edge Geographic Information System (GIS) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies for the planning and execution of urban road projects in the city.

The UT Engineering Department has introduced, for the first time, a major advancement through Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven road identification for a comprehensive videographic survey of the city roads and analysing AI to improve quality of roads by efficient planning of maintenance and development.

The detailed reports on the condition of roads will help in efficient planning for maintenance and development of the road infrastructure, UT Chief Engineer CB Ojha told The Tribune.

He disclosed that the AI-based surveys would also analyse the existing road safety signage to identify the shortcomings in road safety display signs, if any, to further enhance the safety of commuters.

To further strengthen planning and monitoring, Ojha said a comprehensive road data bank would be created as part of this initiative.

“Detailed road condition data, surveys, tenders and performance records will be maintained for review purposes. This will create a valuable historical record for evidence-based policy making and transparent governance,” he shared.

Initially, this project will be implemented on the V3 roads, which have been recently transferred to the UT Engineering Department by the Municipal Corporation. These roads will serve as a pilot project for the GIS–AI-based survey, ensuring that lessons learnt can be scaled up for the citywide implementation in the coming days.

He highlighted that this technological integration will reshape urban governance, embedding transparency, accountability and efficiency into the administration’s infrastructure strategy while the regular manual field inspections will continue across all city roads for ensuring better quality infrastructure.

“Technology is transforming our ability to plan, tender and monitor urban road projects with precision, efficiency and accountability,” Ojha added.