Lifford Bridge
Four SM:ART monitoring units at the half-joints of an early-1960s post-tensioned road bridge, in a SM:ART Trial with the Department for Infrastructure NI and WSP.
- Asset owner
- Department for Infrastructure Northern Ireland
- Engineering consultant
- WSP
- Structure
- Reinforced concrete half-joint road bridge with a post-tensioned deck, about 114 m, early 1960s
- Location
- River Finn, between Lifford, Co. Donegal and Strabane, Co. Tyrone
- Installed
- July 2026
- Instrumentation
- Four SM:ART units, one at each half-joint outer face
- Measured
- Half-cell potential, concrete resistivity, temperature, relative humidity, tilt
- Cadence
- Hourly
The problem
Half-joints concentrate risk. The nib is a thin section carrying the deck reaction, it sits directly beneath a deck joint, and water carrying de-icing salts drains towards it. The reinforcement inside is hard to inspect and harder to assess without intrusive investigation.
Principal inspections run on a six-year cycle. Between them, the condition of the reinforcement in a half-joint changes continuously and unobserved. For an asset owner weighing repair, strengthening or replacement, that interval is where the uncertainty sits.
The SM:ART Trial at Lifford Bridge is set up to narrow that interval: hourly measurements taken at the half-joints themselves, reported to the Department for Infrastructure NI and WSP as evidence alongside their inspection and assessment work.
The asset
Lifford Bridge carries the road over the River Finn between Lifford, Co. Donegal and Strabane, Co. Tyrone. It is a reinforced concrete half-joint bridge with a post-tensioned deck of about 114 m, built in the early 1960s. The Department for Infrastructure Northern Ireland owns the structure; WSP is the engineering consultant engaged on it.
Corrosion concerns at the half-joints are the engineering context for the trial. WSP’s intrusive investigation works on the half-joints ran alongside the sensor installation.
The SM:ART deployment
Four SM:ART monitoring units were installed, one on the outer face of each half-joint. The installation took place at night between 15th and 18th July 2026 under traffic management, and was carried out by Structivate’s founder, Dr Sean Bond, alongside WSP’s intrusive investigation works.
Each unit is retrofitted through 22 mm drilled holes and grouted in place. The units are self-contained and battery powered, with batteries sized to the six-yearly principal inspection cycle, and they report over a wireless uplink to the cloud platform. Measurements are taken hourly.
Each unit measures half-cell (corrosion) potential, concrete resistivity, temperature and relative humidity. Tilt is recorded as a separate structural-behaviour signal. Corrosion rate, section loss and chloride condition are not measured directly by this deployment.
SM:ART was developed at TU Dublin with Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund support. Structivate runs the SM:ART Trials and produces the analysis and reporting for the asset owner and consultant.
Findings to date
Monitoring is underway. Measurements from the half-joints are being reported to the Department for Infrastructure NI and WSP under the trial’s evaluation agreement.
No readings, trends or conclusions are published here. Interpretation of what the data shows at Lifford Bridge sits with the asset owner and their consultant. This page describes the deployment, not its results; anything published later will follow their review and be stated as measured or modelled accordingly.
Engineering implications
The deployment does not replace the inspection regime. General and principal inspections continue; the monitoring fills the interval between them with hourly evidence from the details of concern.
The decision remains an engineering one. SM:ART provides measured evidence and modelled interpretation with stated uncertainty; the Department for Infrastructure NI and WSP weigh it alongside inspection findings, investigation results and their own judgement.
What the Lifford Bridge deployment shows so far is the installation pattern: retrofit units on the outer face of each half-joint, installed at night under traffic management alongside investigation works. That pattern is what The SM:ART Trial offers other owners of ageing reinforced-concrete structures.
From the installation
Structivate’s own photography from the July 2026 installation at Lifford Bridge.
The under-bridge access unit on the deck, from the riverbed below. 
Marking up the half-joint face before drilling. 
Night work on the access platform, alongside WSP’s intrusive investigation works. 
Drilling the 22 mm holes for the sensors at the half-joint face. 
Connecting the sensor array to a unit at one of the half-joints. 
A unit in position, with its sensors grouted into the half-joint concrete. 
Lifford Bridge from the riverbank.
What happens next
Monitoring continues through the trial period, with data and reports going to the Department for Infrastructure NI and WSP. Findings published here will follow their review.
View case studies
Have a similar structure?
The 2026 SM:ART Trial is fully subscribed, and Structivate is registering interest for the Spring 2027 cohort across a wider range of reinforced-concrete structures. Half-joint bridges like Lifford are one fit. The next cohort is expected to consider a wider range of reinforced-concrete structures.