Suspension bridge for foot traffic over the Tamur River at Mulghat, showing temporary bamboo scaffolding where the British are making repairs. The bridge was originally constructed by the British, and is located on the major trekking route leading from Dharan (and the Terai) in the south to Dhankuta and other hill districts to the north. Photo by Brian Cooke (1966-1967)

Nepal is cut through by more than 6,000 rivers and rivulets, threading between its mountains, hills, and plains. For much of Nepal's history, rivers have been both lifelines and barriers. On one hand providing water, support agriculture, and shape settlements. But, on the other hand, just reaching the other side of the river means a long detour, a dangerous crossing, or even complete isolation during the monsoon season. A detour to find a safe ford could take six hours or cost lives in a single misstep. 

In a geography like this, bridges are not merely transport infrastructure but also an important indicator of Nepal’s development. The story of Nepal's bridges is therefore also a story of the country's development: from locally built crossings and limited infrastructure, through decades of government-led construction, to a model in which communities themselves play a central role in building and maintaining the bridges they depend on. 

The History

Long before engineers and government departments entered the picture, Nepali communities built their own crossings using whatever the terrain gave them. In the hills and mountains, communities used locally available materials and indigenous knowledge to create rope bridges, timber structures, and other forms of temporary crossings. And in places where even that wasn't feasible, people relied on rope-suspended bridges and rope cable cars, simple pulley-and-basket systems slung across a river on a single line known as ‘tuin’.They had to be rebuilt or repaired constantly, offered only the barest margin of safety, and limited how far people could realistically travel for trade, healthcare, or education. But for many remote communities, a tuin was the only option available, and in some parts of Nepal, it still is.

Nepal’s First Bridge 

• Nepal's first-ever proper bridge was built in 1810, crossing the Bagmati River at Thapathali in Kathmandu.
• It used timber piles and a timber superstructure, and was completed in a year.
• Permanent bridges remained rare and largely confined to the Kathmandu Valley for nearly a century afterward 

The Aberdeen Bridges

• 1900: Nepal's first "modern" suspension bridge was built at Trishuli Bazar, erected by the Nepal Military, designed by Scottish engineer Louis Harper, manufactured at Harpers Limited's Craiginches Ironworks in Aberdeen
• From 1901, once Chandra Shamsher became Prime Minister, his government formally took the lead in expanding this effort, enlisting Harper's company to build modern trail bridges at further sites across the country
• Bridges went up at Sanghutar (Likhu River), Mangaltar (Roshi River), Bharyang Bhurung (Thopal River), Charchare (Tinau River), Matela Bridge (Jajarkot), Dolalghat (Sunkoshi River), including the Chandra Bridge at Chobhar Gorge in 1903
• In total, 29 suspension trail bridges were built across this period; for nearly a decade, Harpers were the sole supplier of suspension bridges in Nepal
• Served military and administrative routes only, not ordinary village life
• 1917: Amlekhgunj–Bhimphedi Road becomes Nepal's first motorable road, bringing steel truss bridges outside the valley for the first time

From government project to community effort

• 1964: Suspension Bridge Division (SBD) established, with technical support from Swiss engineers (SATA)
• 1990: Bridge Building at the Local Level (BBLL) launched with Swiss government support, handing planning and maintenance to local Users' Committees
• Annual output rose to around 100 bridges a year under this community-led model
• Wooden walkway decks replaced with galvanised steel in the 1990s; further durability upgrades followed the 2015 earthquake

A parallel track — highway and river bridges

• 1965: concrete arch bridge over the Bhote Koshi River at Kodari (later the Nepal-China Friendship Bridge), which became the first official land route to connect Nepal to Tibet
• 1971: Nepal's first prestressed concrete bridge, over the Jhumsa Khola in Palpa district on the new Siddhartha Highway
• 1979: the 200-metre steel truss Mulghat Bridge over the Tamor River, built with UK government support
• 1993: Nepal's first (and still only) cable-stayed bridge, over the Karnali River at Chisapani, Bardiya, having American design, constructed by Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries with World Bank funding

Scaling up nationally

• 2006: Nepal Trail Bridge Strategy formalised, setting a "no more than one hour's detour" target along with mandating at least 50% representation of women and fair involvement of disadvantaged groups.
• 2009–2023: Trail Bridge Sector Wide Approach adds thousands more bridges, government-led with multiple donors, with annual bridge construction jumping past 300 to 450+
• November 2023: Nepal's 10,000th trail bridge completed, from which an estimated 19 million Nepalis have benefited overall
• Since 2008, Nepali engineers have trained counterparts in Ethiopia, Cameroon, Tanzania, and Guatemala through a Helvetas-led South-South cooperation effort

The Last Decade

The last ten years depict the damages and the progress being made in this sector side by side.

On the damage side, the severe floods and landslides of late September 2024 damaged 44 suspension bridges nationally with an estimated loss of NPR 1.04 billion. In July 2025, monsoon-driven flooding destroyed the Nepal-China Friendship Bridge at Rasuwagadi. Not all the damage comes from disasters; national media reported at least 50 bridge failures across Nepal between 2017 and 2021, most of them collapsing during construction or just after their completion, pointing to gaps in oversight as much as extreme weather.

On the progress side: the network keeps growing and improving. As of early 2026, Nepal had 8,444 trail bridges in place, with an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 more still needed to close the remaining gaps, according to DoLI (Department of Local Infrastructure). Where bridges have been built, average travel time has been cut by 2.3 hours, a concrete daily difference for the communities they reach. The areas near newly built trail bridges have noticed a significant increase in average school attendance by 16%, and visits to health centers have also increased by 26%. 

And running through both stories: the tuin hasn't disappeared. In parts of Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces, districts like Darchula, Humla, Jajarkot, and Mugu, with Humla having the highest number of tuin, i.e., 15. People still cross rivers on tuin, makeshift rope and cable systems, because no bridge has reached them yet, and children are among those most affected, making daily crossings just to get to school.  In 2010, five people died in a single incident when a tuin basket plunged into the Trishuli River. The human cost of this is real but poorly recorded: in one Darchula municipality alone, residents say 23 people have died crossing the Mahakali River over three decades. The government pledged in 2015 to make Nepal "tuin-free," and real progress has followed, but there is still no single reliable count of how many people have died or been injured this way nationwide. 

Conclusion

What began with communities improvising rope crossings and timber structures has evolved into one of the country’s most significant infrastructure achievements, linking remote villages to schools, health centres, markets, and the wider economy gone from depending on outside expertise to exporting its own engineers abroad. Yet the story is far from complete. For every milestone from the first timber bridge at Thapathali to the 10,000th trail bridge, there are still communities waiting for a safe way across a river. The continued use of tuin is a reminder that infrastructure development is not measured only by the number of bridges built, but by who can actually reach them. At the same time, increasingly severe floods, landslides, and bridge failures highlight the need to build infrastructure that is not only accessible, but also durable and resilient. 

The same rivers that shaped a century of engineering effort are still being crossed the old, dangerous way in a handful of districts. Until every one of Nepal's 6,000 rivers has a safe way across, the history of Nepal's bridges will still have few chapters left to write.