The Arkansas Department of Transportation has selected an artificial intelligence platform from Dynamic Infrastructure to analyze hundreds of bridges, culverts and drainage systems, the company said.
The pilot project will cover about 500 assets. The system reviews existing data, including images, drone footage and past inspection reports, to assess condition, identify deterioration and flag risks. It then produces condition ratings, forecasts and recommended maintenance actions.
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Dynamic Infrastructure - Defect Size estimation engine
(Photo: Dynamic Infrastructure )
State officials are increasingly focused on drainage infrastructure, which can be difficult to inspect and is vulnerable to damage from flooding and freezing. Arkansas has more than 40,000 culverts and similar assets statewide. The pilot is intended as a first phase toward broader analysis of that network.
Dynamic Infrastructure said its platform is designed to help agencies shift toward preventive maintenance by prioritizing repairs based on risk. The company estimates that a roughly $5,000 culvert repair could prevent a road failure requiring as much as $200,000 in emergency reconstruction.
It also said early maintenance on roads costing $40,000 to $125,000 per mile could help avoid more complex reconstruction projects that exceed $250,000.
Across a network of about 40,000 assets, identifying roughly 4,000 high-risk locations could translate into potential savings of up to $800 million, according to the company. Those figures were not independently verified.
Saar Dickman, the company’s co-founder and chief executive, said the goal is to support engineers with automated analysis. “Our vision is to provide every public or county engineering and maintenance department with an AI-based ‘virtual engineer’ that works alongside professional teams,” he said.
The company said its technology has been used by state and local agencies in 13 states and has analyzed thousands of large structures, including bridges and dams, along with tens of thousands of smaller assets such as culverts and retaining walls. It also operates in the United Kingdom and Australia.