A bridge is only as good as its structure, and a structure is only good until it isn’t. The global engineering and architecture firm Arcadis understands the potentially devastating impacts of a bridge with a structural failure. That’s why, in partnership with the infrastructure assessment company Niricson, Arcadis created the AI-assisted inspection tool Bridge Health, which it launched in September 2023.

Using drones to conduct highly detailed visual analyses and acoustic technology to detect structural defects invisible to the eye, Bridge Health brings in far more information than what’s recorded during a conventional—and highly dangerous—human inspection. Artificial intelligence and data analytics take things further, offering predictive models of everything from potential problems to impending failures. Bridge Health has already been used on dozens of bridges, from Australia to Atlanta to Vancouver. Even for structurally sound bridges, Bridge Health is a major time- and effort-saver, speeding up the inspection process and helping to ensure that proper maintenance of a good bridge prevents it from turning into a tragedy.

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