PSI - Issue 78

Fausto Alimenti et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 78 (2026) 1326–1333

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1. Introduction Italy's extensive road network, characterized by a significant number of aging bridges and tunnels, necessitates continuous and rigorous inspection and maintenance to ensure public safety and infrastructure resilience (Fattorini et al., 2022). Much of Europe's road infrastructure has been in operation for many years, leading to substantial maintenance costs and traffic slowdowns due to inspection and repair activities. Over the past three decades, the rate of deterioration has accelerated due to increased traffic loads and the effects of climate change (Bencivenga et al., 2022). Recognizing these challenges, the European Commission has emphasized the need for an integrated policy for transport infrastructure safety (Allaix et al., 2023). In this regard, road safety inspections are crucial tools for preventing and mitigating accidents (Petru and Krivda, 2019). In Italy, the Italian National Agency for Safety of Railway and Road Infrastructures (ANSFISA) was established in 2018 to promote and oversee the safety of national railway and road infrastructures. ANSFISA's role is distinct from that of managing entities; it focuses on identifying and classifying risk situations and compelling managing entities to implement necessary safety measures. This necessitates specific procedural tools and evaluation methods for supervisory activities (De Bartolomeo et al., 2023). 2. Technical triage: The VISIT method To address the need for efficient and standardized inspection methodologies for a large volume of road infrastructure assets, the Safety Inspection Visits of Road Infrastructures (VISIVIA) project was launched. This project, a collaboration between the SPRINT-Lab of the University of Udine and ANSFISA, aims to develop a tailored visual inspection methodology for on-site surveillance, known as VISIT (Visual Inspection for Safety-deficit Identification and Triage). The VISIT methodology is designed to process and summarize inspection data in a standardized way, providing a situational overview dashboard for ANSFISA (see Fig.1). The methodology is based on an analogy with the medical sector, treating different infrastructure assets as "patients" in a triage decision-making process for evaluation and treatment (Grimaz et al., 2024a).

Fig. 1. Left: bridge characterization diamond chart. The chart permits to summarize the safety deficits identified in the various districts through a warning color code. Right: example of “Constitutive Elements” for the various core and completion districts (Grim az et al., 2024b). The VISIT method provides a rapid and pragmatic objective technical evaluation. It allows for the acquisition and management of inspection data, ensuring that results are processed and summarized consistently for a clear overview. The project aims to improve road infrastructure safety by providing managing entities with a systematic approach to identify safety deficits. Initial prototypal tests of the VISIT methodology have been conducted on various infrastructure types. For roads, tests using equipped vehicles for road safety surveillance have confirmed that the VISIT methodology provides pivotal inspection details without requiring traffic restrictions or expensive equipment, while ensuring safety for both road