Thirteen people were killed on Aug 1 2007, when an Interstate bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. This was just another wake up call of the aging of the highway infrastructure in US and elsewhere.
But there's a plan.
Many of the 600,000 bridges in the US will be equipped with wireless sensors to monitor loads, stresses, strains and cracks, and changes in chemical and electrical properties related to deterioration (e.g., corrosion and fatigue).
This is just another example of the Hyperconnectivity mega-trend.
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Very cool Tony. I just saw a local story last night about a new bridge being build here in DFW that will have sensors to, among other things, tell the dept of transportation when ice is forming on the bridge (a big deal for us Texans that hardly ever see that).