UK council trials drone technology for bridge inspections

West Sussex County Council in the UK, in partnership with Balfour Beatty Living Places, has begun trialling the use of drones to inspect bridges across the county. Trials have so far been carried out on two bridges, resulting, they say, in around US$10,000 (£8,000) of savings compared to traditional inspections. Routine inspections are carried out on all bridges every two years to ensure they are safe for public use. Traditionally, inspection work requires traffic management to allow inspectors to safely ca
May 12, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
West Sussex County Council in the UK, in partnership with 3902 Balfour Beatty Living Places, has begun trialling the use of drones to inspect bridges across the county. Trials have so far been carried out on two bridges, resulting, they say, in around US$10,000 (£8,000) of savings compared to traditional inspections.


Routine inspections are carried out on all bridges every two years to ensure they are safe for public use. Traditionally, inspection work requires traffic management to allow inspectors to safely carry out works at height and over water, causing disruption to the public and road users. The use of drones to review the condition of a bridge reduces potential health and safety risks, as well as dramatically reducing costs, disruption and inconvenience to members of the public by removing the need for traffic management.

Operated by one of Balfour Beatty’s six Civil Aviation Authority licensed drone pilots, each drone is fitted with recording equipment to allow the workforce on the ground to review the condition of the bridge once filming is completed. To make sure the drone is operated safely, a second camera is used to film the drone in action, with an assistant reviewing the safety parameters around the drone in real-time.

The drones are also fitted with protective floats to enable them to safely land on water if required, as well as a GPS system to prevent them flying into ‘no fly zones’, such as airport space, without permission.

Related Content

  • March 14, 2012
    Advanced ITS truck screening aids border control
    State-of-the-art ITS technologies are being deployed for tracking of commercial vehicles at the US-Mexico border in Arizona, reports Pete Goldin. The border between the US and Mexico may be the epitome of America's wild west, but this remote desert frontier is being tamed by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) with a state-of-the-art ITS system. A comprehensive port-of-entry (POE) screening system is being deployed at the Mariposa Port of Entry – one of the busiest land ports in the nation – at
    Read More
  • December 7, 2020
    Saving the world, one parking space at a time
    Donald Shoup, professor of urban planning at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), tells Adam Hill about why parking is too cheap – and how Monopoly could seriously raise its game
    Read More
  • April 27, 2016
    Crown International to supply variable-height masts for smart motorways
    Crown International has been awarded a US$547,000 (£375,000) contract by Balfour Beatty to supply and install variable height dual unit enabled PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) masts, as part of the Smart Motorways project on the M5. The masts will be used between Junctions 2 and 4a and will be delivered in 2016. Forty-six PTZ 15 metre masts are to be installed along the M5. Each mast will be used to mount infrared equipment and lane monitoring cameras and has been designed for roadside maintenance by a single operative
    Read More
  • March 15, 2012
    Traffic signals turn red to stop speeding drivers
    David Crawford is encouraged by the spread of 'soft' speed policing 
    Read More

Highlighted Content