Unmanned aerial vehicles (camera-equipped drones flown beneath bridge decks) provide excellent visual inspection detail safely and with minimal disruption to traffic on medium and large bridges. UAVs can reduce the need for and cost of under-bridge inspection vehicles, and can reduce reliance on ropes and other bridge inspection techniques that pose safety risks to inspectors. New, inspection-specific UAVs will soon be available that should improve the range of uses of drones as bridge inspection tools.
