AASHTO Journal, 24 May 2013
The Federal Highway Administration announced last week it will soon be utilizing a new innovative technology to gauge the safety and structural integrity of bridges while saving time and money: a robot.
The new tool, created through a partnership between FHWA and Rutgers University Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation, combines multiple advanced scans to give bridge inspectors the most accurate picture of the safety of the structure. The robot allows users to see beyond what is visible to the human eye through technologies similar to x-rays, all without damaging or penetrating the bridge deck. The robot also allows users to obtain even more information on concrete and reinforcing steel conditions for each bridge. All this information is provided by the robot from one single sweep of the bridge.
“In his State of the Union address, President Obama called for a ‘Fix it First’ approach to infrastructure targeting the nation’s most urgent repairs,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a statement. “By using innovative technology, we can better identify needed bridge repairs, which is all part of the president’s vision for improved transportation infrastructure.”
The robot is one tool coming out of FHWA’s Long-Term Bridge Performance Program, a research program aimed at collecting and analyzing data on a sample of bridges from around the country in order to better understand how they react under various conditions. The data collected from the program, of which the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials is a partner, will be used by FHWA to “develop a better understanding of concrete bridge deck deterioration, including the impacts of corrosion, the environment, traffic patterns, and weight.”
FHWA’s robot will be deployed first on 24 bridges in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. After that initial phase, FHWA’s goal is to use the robot on 1,000 bridges nationwide through the next five years.
Additional information on FHWA’s Long-Term Bridge Performance Program is available here.
