Trail bridges in Nepal: how many, who builds them, what they change

Trail bridges are the footbridges that carry hill paths over rivers. The wider set of rural access pages is in the rural roads hub; how the roads themselves are built is in how rural roads are built.

How many trail bridges there are

The Department of Local Infrastructure Development and Agricultural Roads (DoLIDAR) project page for the Trail Bridge Sector Wide Approach counted 8,444 trail bridges in the country and said a further 4,000 to 5,000 were needed¹. Its record gives the period of TB SWAp-III as 2019 to 2022¹. Construction under the programme has been ongoing since 2009, with Swiss government support¹.

The 2024 journal paper adds that around 700 trail bridges and around 400 motorable bridges are built across the country each year³. Over 1,000 trail bridges were reported under construction annually, monitored through four monitoring information systems⁶.

Targets set along the way

The first Trail Bridge Strategy, in 2006, set a national target that no citizen should walk a detour of more than one hour without a safe river crossing⁶. A survey then showed Nepal needed 6,000 additional trail bridges⁶. By 2019 over 8,000 had been completed, and a review said 2,400 more were needed to meet the target⁶.

How trail bridges are built

Unlike conventional bridges, trail bridges could be built without heavy machinery, with materials carried by hand and much of the work done by local communities⁴. One engineer’s estimate is that a trail bridge costs at least ten times less than a conventionally designed bridge⁴.

Helvetas says short-span bridges, those under 120 m long, are covered by a national guideline and make up 90% of trail bridges². Sixteen manuals guide practitioners on technical norms, standards, designs and implementation, incorporating gender equality and social inclusion⁵. The manuals cover surveying, design, construction, maintenance and quality control⁷. In July 2026 a typical 60-metre trail bridge cost between $80,000 and $100,000⁷. There are 33 fabricators across all seven provinces making parts for 900 bridges a year⁶.

Nepali engineers have helped governments in 11 countries, including Bhutan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Indonesia, Guatemala and Afghanistan, develop their own trail bridge programmes⁷. In Ethiopia 272 trail bridges have been built with Nepali support⁷.

Who runs them

The lead role for the trail bridge programme has always been with the government, with SDC and Helvetas giving financial and technical support⁵. Each short-span bridge gets a user group committee, which must include women and members of disadvantaged groups². Fifty percent of user committee representatives should be women, and at least 35% of the people involved in bridge construction are now women⁵.

On completion a public meeting is held to verify that the bridge meets quality standards and that funds were used properly². A public audit also covers technical, social and financial issues⁵. A Bridge Warden is then appointed to oversee operation and upkeep².

Swiss technical assistance for trail bridge building ended in November 2023, and local municipalities and provinces took over⁶.

Floods and earthquakes

Several bridges were damaged by floods and landslides in 1993, again in September 2024, and by the 2015 earthquake, disconnecting various districts and the capital, Kathmandu³. The 2024 journal paper counted 44 motorable bridges and 11 trail bridges damaged in the 2024 floods³. After the 2015 earthquake damaged 79 of the 6,000 trail bridges built until then, a study of the damaged bridges led to designs refined to increase seismic resistance⁶.

What they changed

Helvetas says each bridge makes the routes used by an average 1,800 people shorter and safer². Studies found that school attendance rose 16 percent and antenatal healthcare access 31 percent⁴. The DoLIDAR page reports a 23% increment in patients seeking health facilities and new markets at 20% of bridge sites¹.

Use figures are reported on different measures. DoLIDAR said over 1.3 million people cross trail bridges daily to reach schools, health facilities and markets, and that on average 153 people were found to use each bridge daily¹. The Kathmandu Post gave over one million crossings each day in July 2026⁷. The broader record of what access changed is in what roads changed, and hazards on the same hill routes are in landslides and road safety.