A total of 62 road and railway bridges in Greece’s Eastern Macedonia and Thrace region are set to be integrated into the country’s new Smart Bridges project, a digital infrastructure monitoring initiative aimed at improving bridge safety through continuous structural surveillance.
The project was presented in the city of Komotini in the presence of regional officials and representatives from technical organizations. Regional Governor Christodoulos Topsidis described the initiative as a significant investment in the future of public infrastructure and road safety.
The Smart Bridges program is being implemented by the Technical Chamber of Greece in cooperation with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. It is funded by the European Union through the NextGenerationEU recovery instrument as part of Greece’s national recovery and resilience plan.
The initiative will use sensors and digital monitoring systems to continuously collect and analyze data on the structural condition of bridges. The goal is to identify signs of deterioration at an early stage, predict potential issues, and enable maintenance work to be planned before serious problems develop.
Officials said the inclusion of 62 bridges is particularly important for Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, a region with an extensive road and transport network where bridges play a key role in connecting communities, facilitating freight movement, and supporting economic activity.
According to regional authorities, infrastructure management must increasingly shift from repairing damage after it occurs to a preventive maintenance model, with technology helping detect risks before they become safety hazards or disrupt transport networks.
The regional administration joined the program following an invitation from the Technical Chamber of Greece, working with the organization to identify and prioritize the bridges requiring systematic monitoring.
In parallel, the region has also signed a cooperation agreement with the National Technical University of Athens to conduct a comprehensive assessment of bridge conditions across Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. The survey is intended to provide a scientific basis for prioritizing future maintenance and infrastructure investments.
Authorities say the Smart Bridges project represents another step in Greece’s broader digital transformation of public infrastructure, with a focus on improving safety, protecting critical transport assets, and enhancing long-term maintenance planning.
