Protecting the bridges of Madison County

Iowa State University engineers are developing round-the-clock monitoring technology to help protect the bridges of Madison County.

That same technology could be adapted to any bridge where security is an issue, said Terry Wipf, the director of Iowa State’s Bridge Engineering Center.

Madison County’s historic covered bridges have been arson targets in recent years. A September 2002 fire destroyed the 1883 Cedar Bridge. A year later the 1884 Hogback Bridge was damaged by an arson attack.

Engineers from the Bridge Engineering Center are now testing a monitoring system that will cover one of the bridges with three layers of remote monitoring equipment.

Brent Phares, the associate director of the Bridge Engineering Center, said the equipment includes flame detection devices, which detect infrared light, ultraviolet light and the flicker rate as the light frequencies change. Phares said flames emit a light signature the devices will recognise.