No bridge too far

摘要

Highway maintenance authorities in both Europe and America are faced with the increasingly complex dilemma of balancing maintenance prioritisation with tumbling budgets. As much of the infrastructure is ageing considerably, the maintenance challenges are becoming more critical, with many potentially disastrous defects being hidden well below the road surface. Elevated sections and bridge decks in particular are prone to problems of delamination and corrosion of steel reinforcement bars. Inspecting for these defects has traditionally been achieved using coring and sampling the road, a technique which suffers from four significant problems: 1. Disruption - While samples are taken and repairs made, the section of the road needs to be closed. 2. Speed - The process is slow, requiring samples to be collected and laboratory analysis to be performed.