Can technology improve routine visual bridge inspections?

This paper discusses the role of visual inspections in the UK highways bridge inspection regime, and how current practice results in inspection data that are less reliable than they could, and should, be. Evidence that visual inspections in general are not totally reliable is discussed. Similar problems have been overcome in other areas, such as pavement inspection, by using technological aids during the data collection and inspection process. It is hoped that better bridge condition data could be obtained by making use of technology to assist the visual inspection process on bridges. Some of the ways in which images could be recorded to make the inspection process more reliable and reproducible are discussed, and a prototype system that has been developed with the aim of providing a full, high-resolution image record of the visual condition of a bridge, which is suitable for use, is presented.