Abstract Manager

Bridge inspections play a crucial role in keeping bridges safe and serviceable. Timely and accurate condition data allow for engineers to make optimal decisions for prioritizing sites and defining the work needed to maintain bridges.
 
Most inspection cycles on bridges will include the use of a snooper truck to provide inspectors with arms-length access to portions of the bridge that cannot be visually inspected otherwise with sufficient detail.  These are critical inspections that are often costly, difficult, and time consuming. 

The emergence of drone inspections offers a cheaper, faster, and substantially similar alternative to snooper truck inspections. Drones can provide detailed photos and videos of the bridge elements requiring inspection; they do not require road closures or traffic accommodations; relatively few personnel are needed to carry out the work, and the inspection process is rapid in the field, with a whole bridge being done in a relatively short amount of time. In 2021 the City of Edmonton piloted a drone inspection programme covering multiple river crossings. In the following years we have expanded the programme to cover more bridges annually and have transitioned into formally integrating drone use with our scheduled bridge inspections with the majority of our drone inspections being performed using our own drone and with in-house staff.  We will discuss the programme, its inception, how it has grown, our findings, lessons learned, and future steps. Findings include a cost comparison with conventional bridge inspections using specialized access equipment and drone alternatives, along with recommended best practices, potential issues, and practical limitations of this inspection method. We will also walk through a typical superstructure visual inspection which we would do with a drone.