The next time you drive over a bone-jarring pothole, remember this: Since 2008, 73 million tax dollars have been invested in monitoring and inspection technologies for the nation’s aging infrastructure. Here’s the good part: They’re making a difference.

The innovative technologies include:
• Tiny, self-powered sensors that can be embedded in bridge structures and networked wirelessly to continuously monitor the structure’s health
• Little fly-by-wire vehicles that can flit around bridges to measure and inspect their condition without the need to shut spans down to accommodate human inspectors
• An automated instrument package that transforms city-fleet vehicles into rolling inspectors that monitor and map the condition of roadways and bridge decks as workers go about their usual routines

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