Do you replace the official bridge inspection report?

No. We provide the visual data that the structural engineer of record uses to support their inspection findings — we do not certify bridge condition ourselves.

Drone capturing high-resolution imagery of a bridge underdeck and pier components from a position inaccessible to ground crews without bucket trucks or rope access

Core Service

Drone Bridge Inspection

Reach hard-to-access bridge components without snooper trucks or lane closures. High-resolution visuals for structural engineers assessing infrastructure.

Overview

Bridge inspections traditionally require lane closures, expensive under-bridge inspection vehicles (snoopers), and significant safety risks. Holmes and Watson deploys drones with upward-facing gimbals and obstacle-avoidance systems to navigate around piers and approach hard-to-reach components, capturing the visual data structural engineers need to assess concrete spalling, steel corrosion, and bearing condition without closing a lane.

Why Choose Drone Bridge & Infrastructure

Drone bridge inspection lets engineers see the parts of a bridge they can't easily reach without a bucket truck or rope crew — and produces a documented, sharable visual record that standard inspection notes can't match.

When to use it: Use drone bridge inspection for routine inspection support, post-flood scour assessment, pre-design condition documentation, and any inspection of components inaccessible from the deck or ground.

What We Inspect

Concrete spalling, cracking, and efflorescence
Steel beam corrosion and connection integrity
Bridge bearings and expansion joints
Pier scouring and abutment condition
Deck drainage and runoff staining
Cable, post-tensioning, and overhead component condition

Our Process

Coordination

Working with DOTs, owners, and engineers to define critical inspection nodes and any traffic management.

Navigation

Pilots use obstacle-aware flight modes to safely position the drone for upward-facing capture of underdeck components.

Capture

Acquiring detailed optical data of specific structural elements, with consistent overlap and orientation.

Analysis Prep

Organizing data geographically and by structural element for easy review by structural engineers.

Deliverables

Organized high-resolution image database mapped to bridge schematics, optional 3D structural model, video fly-throughs, and component-level condition imagery.