Augmented Reality for Highway Bridge Element Inspection

Condition assessment for bridges is a methodical task which requires substantial time, attention to detail, and precise documentation. As such, a single bridge inspection requires several hours of lane closures and multiple trained personnel to complete. Importantly, the recent transition to element level condition ratings has increased the details necessary to compile bridge inspection reports. While allowing more effective evaluation of bridge deterioration and prioritization of maintenance tasks, this has also increased the time and effort required from inspectors. It has also led to less consistency in how information is documented by bridge inspectors. These challenges present an opportunity for the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) (and other agencies) to leverage augmented reality (AR) techniques to assist in specific inspection tasks and reduce the cognitive load on inspectors, helping them to execute faster while maintaining high performance. As bridge inspection guidelines continue to evolve, AR can also provide a platform to quickly integrate new automated inspection technology and changing requirements into the workflow. Specifically, NMDOT is expecting the following from AR research to: Facilitate routine tasks accelerating the inspection process and reducing mental fatigue. Provide heads-up access to relevant element and defect codes from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) manual; Produce historical overlays of previous inspections, thus allowing better judgements on the progression of deterioration; and Leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically label and measure defects (with a focus on concrete cracking and spalling), thus automating the generation of condition reports and well as providing additional insights. Importantly, the development of the AR interface will follow a user-centered design strategy to ensure that the interface is easy to use, easy to train for, and inspectors can interact with AI elements in order to ensure consistent performance.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $460,403.00
• Contract Numbers:

  R923020

  C06421

• Sponsor Organizations:

  New Mexico Department of Transportation

  1120 Cerrillos Road
  P.O. Box 1149
  Sante Fe, NM  United States  87504-1149

  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg

  Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
  3500 Transportation Research Plaza
  Blacksburg, VA  United States  24061
• Project Managers:

  Vigil, Shannon

• Start Date: 20230516
• Expected Completion Date: 20250912
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Augmented reality; Automation; Bridge members; Inspection
• Identifier Terms: New Mexico Department of Transportation
• Geographic Terms: New Mexico
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Data and Information Technology; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01962494
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: New Mexico Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: R923020, C06421
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Aug 5 2025 11:39AM