The Soy Transportation Coalition along with Iowa State University and the Iowa Department of Transportation are working on a project to improve technology used to inspect bridges. Soy Transportation Coalition Executive Director Mike Steenhoek says currently bridges are visually inspected by trained engineers. He says one problem with that is the inspection can be too conservative which can lead to costs.

Steenhoek says another major problem with visual inspections is it can lead to misallocation of funding to handle needed repair and upkeep.

He says that’s why the three groups decided to embark on this project to use technology and they’re hoping to get it used in at least a dozen states.

Steenhoek says highlighting the need for this new inspection system is a recent bridge collapse in Guthrie County Iowa where a farmer driving a tractor pulling two tanks of anhydrous ammonia was on a bridge that collapsed. He says fortunately the farmer ended up with some minor injuries.