Underwater inspections of the piers of the Rion-Antirion Bridge

12 December 2023 - Projects update and handover - Greece

The campaign of underwater inspections aimed at protecting the piers of the Rion-Antirion Bridge, operated by VINCI Highways (VINCI Concessions), has just ended.

Particularly critical for the monitoring of the integrity of the structure’s foundations, they are carried out every eight years. These inspections at a depth of 65 m are extremely challenging due to the prevailing conditions in the Corinth Canal. State-of-the-art technologies, notably robotic vehicles and data collection and positioning systems, were deployed in order to examine the state of the protection of the piers against scouring caused by strong marine currents. Preliminary analyses indicate a good stability of the protection of the foundations. The next stage: processing and analysis of the data (videos, telemetry, etc.) and archiving it for future reference and the study of the evolution of the infrastructure over time.