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Bridges play a key role in supporting the transportation network in the United States. The 2021 infrastructure report card prepared by ASCE highlighted that more than 40% of bridges in the U.S. are over 50 years old. Some of these bridges are classified as structurally deficient, even though they are safe to travel. To address these challenges, highway agencies are exploring innovative technologies to conduct inspections and realize benefits in relation to access, cost, and safety. Federal and state DOTs have conducted several studies on the application of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) for bridge health monitoring. This study identified the existing knowledge gap in performing 360° inspection of bridges. In this current research, UAVs were demonstrated for conducting 360° inspections of three different bridges in Alaska. The locations of the aerial images during the inspections were also pictographically represented to provide a holistic idea for the highway agencies and practitioners. Three-dimensional models representing the actual conditions of the bridge were generated and used for comparing the bridge condition assessments with traditional inspection reports. Infrared imagery was also collected to identify the effect of thermal loading in assessing the conditions of the bridge elements. The applicability and recommendation scale for the use of UAVs for different bridge inspections was provided. The approach demonstrated in this study is expected to result in more than 90% savings in storage requirements and contribute to an increase in the applications of UAVs for conducting 360° bridge inspections across the U.S.
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Views of the Highway: Infrastructure Reality, Perceptions, and Politics
Transportation infrastructure such as highways and bridges requires upgrades and maintenance. In many U.S. regions, these requirements have surpassed current funding, so new solutions are needed. One obvious though imperfect source is gasoline taxes, but raising these is politically risky, regardless of need. To illuminate this conflict, we analyze data from four random-sample telephone surveys (2016–2018, n = 2,035) that asked residents in the U.S. state of New Hampshire about their perceptions of highway and bridge conditions, and support for gas tax increases. About one third of the respondents counterfactually reported that highway and bridge conditions had improved compared with 10 or 20 years ago. At the county level, subjective perceptions correlate well with actual pavement and bridge conditions. Majorities of respondents also said they would support tax increases of 5 of 10 cents, although support falls off at higher amounts. Support for a tax increase varies not only with the proposed amount, but also with individual characteristics—especially political identity. In a structural equation model, infrastructure perceptions serve as an intervening variable between ideology and tax support: if infrastructure is falsely seen as improving, that supports an ideologically favored rejection of taxes. Partisan differences in perceptions of physical conditions, noted previously in other domains such as climate change, pose an unexpected challenge in building public support for transportation infrastructure.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1430260
- PAR ID:
- 10547362
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAGE Publications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Sage Open
- Volume:
- 10
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 2158-2440
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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