Qualitative study of IT-driven strategies for improving road and bridge performance

The strategic integration of advanced information technologies (IT) into road and bridge infrastructure can improve efficiency, sustainability, and resilience, yet adoption remains uneven in small and mid-sized public agencies. This qualitative study draws on 16 semi-structured interviews with municipal and regional engineers and managers and uses inductive thematic analysis (ATLAS.ti) to examine the adoption of Building Information Modelling, Digital Twin, Geographic Information Systems, and Internet of Things-based predictive maintenance. Five themes emerged: strategic IT integration, lifecycle cost optimisation, barriers to adoption, workforce readiness and change management, and cybersecurity and resilience. The paper’s novel contributions are (i) an empirically grounded, practitioner-oriented framework linking digital capabilities to organisational preconditions for successful adoption and (ii) actionable recommendations tailored to resource-constrained agencies. Key industry implications include prioritising role-specific capacity building and certification, adopting modular vendor-neutral platforms and open-data standards to reduce lock-in, embedding cyber-risk governance in procurement, and using phased pilot funding to demonstrate return on investment and scale successful interventions.