22–26 October | Houston, Texas ASNT… CREATING A SAFER WORLD!® JOIN US! Visit asnt.org/events 15–17 August 2023 | Dübendorf (Zurich), Switzerland International Symposium on Nondestructive Characterization of Materials 26–29 June 2023 | Columbus, Ohio 31st Annual ASNT Research Symposium 9–11 May 2023 | New Orleans, Louisiana Digital Imaging for NDT 1 February 2023 | Virtual ASNT Rewind 2301 ME Jan New.indd 23 12/20/22 8:15 AM

The primary intent of bridge inspection is safety. Thus, the focus during the initial development of bridge inspection guidelines, including National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS), was on making sure structures are safe for the traveling public. NBIS are mandated by federal statute at 23 U.S.C. 144 and implemented under 23 CFR 650 subpart C. Most changes since the inception of NBIS have been due to failures, but recently the focus has shifted to include bridge/ asset management. As such, there has been an increased emphasis on using inspection data for bridge management purposes and on preservation to make sure these structures are not only safe but also can be maintained cost-effectively to minimize life cycle costs. This requires shifting the focus from predominantly visual inspection to supplementing visual inspections with advanced technologies. In this paper, the authors discuss the changes that have occurred since their 2009 Materials Evaluation article. Introduction During his inaugural speech on 20 January 2009, US President Barack Obama com- mented on infrastructure, “We will build the roads and bridges, the electrical grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.” This quote clearly illustrates that the role of infrastructure in modern societies is multifaceted (Alampalli 2019). Bridges and highway infrastructure are not viewed as just a means to move people and goods from one place to another, but as the backbone of a thriving society. Mobility, reliability, economic competitiveness, and security, in addition to safety, are important performance measures for owners in a resource-constrained environ- ment. This shift in public expectations encour- ages the use of advanced inspection technol- ogies to maintain uninterrupted mobility (see Figure 1). It also calls for preservation-focused bridge management, in which the focus is finding deterioration at early stages and addressing it proactively through cost-effective preservation/maintenance to avoid costly repairs and rehabilitation. Over several decades, the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Highway Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program (HBRRP), later known as the Highway Bridge Program (HBP), was the primary source of federal funding for bridges. The HBP afforded BRIDGE INSPECTION Progression of Bridge Inspection Toward Preservation and Corrosion Mitigation for Improving Asset Management BY SREENIVAS ALAMPALLI, FRANK JALINOOS, AND RAJ AILANEY 24 M AT E R I A L S E V A L U AT I O N • J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 2301 ME Jan New.indd 24 12/20/22 8:15 AM COURTESY: STANTEC