Implementing Gigapixel Technology in Highway Bridge Inspections

Abstract

The current number of deficient U.S. bridges makes the evaluation of bridge condition paramount to a state highway department in developing a bridge management system. State DOTs routinely visually inspect bridges on 24-month cycles. Findings from these inspections are numerically summarized by bridge inspectors for bridge condition ratings and additionally documented with inspector notes and pictures. However, bridge inspections include a human factor, which introduces bias and subjectivity. Consequently, bridge inspection values are tainted with nonuniformity. This article presents gigapixel technology as an inexpensive quality assurance/quality control tool that can easily be implemented by a state DOT for their bridge inspections. The process includes developing gigapixel panoramas of a bridge that can later be reviewed by bridge engineers trained for this task. The proposed approach is used to supplement visual bridge inspection to improve quality control among bridge inspections. This approach promotes uniformity between bridge sites by reviewing multiple bridges by the same group of engineers; the methodology streamlines the documentation included in bridge inspections. In addition to bridge inspections, the technology has the potential for use in a health monitoring program through cataloging images and/or developing time-lapse videos as a culmination of multiple panoramic images.