America’s roads scored a D+ on the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2025 Report Card, with 39% of major roads in poor or mediocre condition. Much of the damage behind that grade starts underground, out of sight of drivers and inspectors. A new service launched today by Dynamic Infrastructure aims to find it earlier, using satellite radar and AI.
Dynamic Infrastructure, the Engineering AI Agent platform for critical civil assets, says the service detects ground movement beneath roads and standing water around culverts before problems become visible and costly. It combines satellite radar data with pavement condition, current and forecast average daily traffic, historical trends and other engineering records. The company draws on its own record of more than 7,000 large structures and tens of thousands of smaller assets.
“A road can look perfectly fine while movement is already happening below the surface,” said Saar Dickman, CEO of Dynamic Infrastructure. “Satellite readings give engineers a longer-range view, so they can build preventive work into their plans before a problem becomes a failure. The earlier you act, the less it costs.”
A different signal for each asset
The service uses InSAR, a satellite radar technique that compares repeat passes over the same ground to measure changes in height. Dynamic Infrastructure reads the results differently for each type of asset.
For roads, the readings are translated into displacement beneath the pavement, including ground and sediment shifting under the roadbed. The platform combines them with each road’s Pavement Condition Index rating, traffic forecasts and historical trends to predict which segments are at risk of deterioration over the next two to four years.
For bridges, the satellite measures vertical movement to sub-inch accuracy, showing whether a deck or its approach is moving because of problems in the ground beneath it. That adds continuous monitoring of ground movement to the structural inspection data agencies already hold.
For culverts, the pipes and channels that carry water under roads, the satellite detects standing water, a sign that a culvert may be blocked. Where inspection records exist, the platform merges them with the satellite data automatically.
One view in place of separate systems
Agencies typically hold this information in separate places, with one system for bridges, another for pavement and surveys for other assets. Dynamic Infrastructure’s platform puts the satellite readings in the same place as the agency’s engineering records, so an asset and the ground beneath it can be assessed together.
The company argues the economics favor early action. Resurfacing a single mile of road can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, so preventing or delaying even one mile of premature resurfacing can justify the cost of monitoring an entire network. Earlier insight can also help agencies avoid rework, where a road is resurfaced and crews later return because the cause sat below the surface.
Those costs have been rising. In April, the asphalt price tracked by New York State reached $730 a ton, up from $621 a year earlier, and several towns warned their paving plans would shrink.
Storm preparation
The service is also aimed at severe weather. Unstable ground can be more vulnerable during hurricanes and extended heavy rain, and a blocked culvert cannot carry stormwater away. The platform combines the satellite readings with each asset’s history to rank where exposure to water and storms is greatest. After a flood or major storm, agencies can request a fresh analysis to see where the ground has shifted.
Recent incidents show what is at stake. At the end of September, a driver in Belmont, Massachusetts, was trapped when a sinkhole opened beneath his car during a nor’easter. Days later, a sinkhole closed northbound U.S. 24 near Detroit.
Testing and validation
Over the past year, the satellite capability has been tested with data center REITs and public sector clients in several counties. Dynamic Infrastructure’s existing inspection AI is backed by Munich Re, which, following technical due diligence, provided an industry-first insurance guarantee that 99% of critical faults are detected in time to prevent structural failure.
Dynamic Infrastructure is part of the NVIDIA Inception program and has tested its technology with the MTA and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey through the Transit Tech Lab. The company manages thousands of structures across 15 US states, the UK and Australia.
The service is available now to public agencies and infrastructure owners in the United States and internationally.
