Nitin Gadkari Bats For AI In Road Quality Monitoring, Hails Mumbai-Pune Expressway

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari defended the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, saying the highway he built 27 years ago remains pothole-free but rarely gets attention. Speaking at the Festival of Thinkers Lecture Series organised by Symbiosis International, Gadkari said technology must play a bigger role in infrastructure quality monitoring. He highlighted the use of satellite-linked systems, NSV, LIDAR, drones, AI and dash cams to identify defects early and enable predictive maintenance. Gadkari also referred to the Missing Link structure collapse, saying the project was built by the Maharashtra government. He said the focus should shift from repairing roads after failure to predicting and preventing failures before they occur.