Founders’ Honor

Nationally registered as a historic structure, Robert Street Bridge is a reinforced concrete arch bridge that crosses the Mississippi River. To address significant structural deterioration, MnDOT initiated a bridge rehabilitation project and retained Collins Engineers to perform a detailed bridge inspection. The project required accurate collection of detailed inspection information that traditional methods and previous software could not accommodate. Collins wanted to supplement conventional workflows with artificial intelligence and digital twins.

They selected iTwinCapture and iTwin Experience to generate a 3D digital twin of the bridge, which helped them to automatically find, quantify, and communicate concrete cracks and deterioration. The ability to pre-inspect the bridge with the digital twin allowed engineers to validate defects prior to starting fieldwork. The solution saved 30% in inspection hours and offers an environmentally friendly, advanced method for future bridge monitoring and management. By making the digital twin available to potential contractors for more detailed insight into the structural condition of the bridge, Collins expects to save approximately 20% in rehabilitative construction costs.