Inspection of Escota structures

Monitoring all major engineering structures on the motorway network

Escota (Autoroutes Esterel-Côte d’Azur), a subsidiary of the Vinci group, currently manages 471 km of motorway in the south of France, including a large number of engineering structures. Under the terms of the concession contract signed with the French government, Escota is responsible for monitoring these structures, and called on Quadric, an Artelia subsidiary, to carry out an inspection campaign covering 68 non-standard structures, known as ouvrages d’art non courants (OANC).

CONTEXT & ISSUES

The Escota network includes a large number of engineering structures (845 bridges, 19 km of tunnels, 520 m of retaining walls) which are visually inspected every year, but which are also subject to regular inspections in order to define actions. monitoring, diagnosis, maintenance and repair to be implemented. To carry out this monitoring, Escota distinguishes between routine engineering works, which it mainly manages internally, and non-routine works for which it calls on external experts.

Quadric, a subsidiary of Artelia specializing in the design and monitoring of engineering structures, was thus selected to carry out the inspection of 68 non-routine engineering structures in the Escota network, including large bridges, such as the Magnan viaduct with its 500 m length and piers measuring up to 120 m high. Accustomed to this type of operation, Quadric uses drones to carry out inspections of high piles and difficult-to-access aprons. The high-precision shots taken via on-board cameras are then processed by the Group’s expert geomaticians.