Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Wireless sensor network (WSN) has become essential for structural health monitoring (SHM) by continuously assessing operational conditions and tracking structural damages. However, WSN is vulnerable to cyberattacks. Securing WSN is imperative to safeguard against transportation infrastructure for safety. This paper addresses the need to integrate security with application‐specific characteristics in WSNs for SHM (WSN4SHM). While WSN research has primarily focused on extending the network's lifetime through energy optimization, the critical nature of SHM requires robustness against both natural and man‐made disasters. Our work prototypes a WSN that integrates security measures with characteristics specific to bridge structural health monitoring. We evaluate the system's security strength to achieve cost‐effective solutions. The work validates the feasibility of deploying the WSN4SHM system and highlights its contributions to realizing integrated security measures with application‐specific characteristics for transportation infrastructure protection.</jats:p>