Underwater Inspection

At UCI we provide our clients with underwater inspection for pre-design, post-construction, routine, and emergency projects. Our divers have inspected nearly a thousand underwater bridge substructures including some of the largest and most well known bridges in the world like the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and the Tappan Zee Bridge for clients such as the NYDOT, NY Thruway Authority, Triborough Bridge & Tunnel Authority, NY Bridge Authority, NJDOT, MSDOT, MO Highway Department and the Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, various railroad companies, and other Owners. Scour surveys are one of the services that we have provided to Owners of scour critical bridges that cross waterways. We employ National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS) certified bridge inspection personnel who are qualified to perform inspections and ratings of bridge superstructures, decks, and substructures. Those employees include Team Leaders, Bridge Inspectors, and Underwater Bridge Inspectors.

We have inspected several hundred thousand feet of underwater pipeline for Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company and National Fuel Gas Distribution Corporation and we always produce a computer generated report with drawings of every inspection. Our underwater gas & oil pipeline inspection and repair teams are Operator Qualified to perform covered tasks as per 49 CFR, Parts 192 & 195.

Our divers inspected over 80,000 linear feet of substructures within the Erie Canal, which included locks, approach walls, guide piers, spillways, dams, dive culverts and guard gates. We have developed proprietary procedures for long internal pipe and tunnel penetrations that exceed existing regulations, and can provide owners with ultrasonic and magnetic particle non-destructive testing, real-time color video, still photography, sonar imagery, and more. If manned intervention is either unsafe or not possible, we offer robotic crawlers with pan and tilt cameras, and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) services.

At UCI, we've inspected dams, reservoirs, bridges, docks, aids to navigation, hazards to navigation, gas and oil pipelines, waste water outfalls, intake structures, potable water treatment plants, all types of gates and valves, tanks, power plants, and naval vessels. If it's underwater or in a harsh environment, we've inspected it.

There is a difference in underwater inspection companies. Many diving companies will employ an entry level diver just out of dive school and send him underwater to inspect your project when he has no idea of what he is looking at or what he should be looking for. Don't take the chance on getting a substandard inspection. Our diving inspectors and supervisors have worked their way up to their current position and they understand your needs and work hard to make sure that you get a complete and accurate underwater inspection. When you utilize our inspection services we can guarantee you that the Diving Supervisor assigned to your project will be an engineer who has completed additional training in the inspection of your type of underwater structure.

Owners or Engineers: Ask for a sample tape of an underwater inspection that we performed in absolute zero visibility and see how easy it is to understand and visualize what the diver is describing. You will only get this with an experienced inspection diver who understands what he is inspecting and how to communicate his findings. An underwater video is only as good as the diver performing the narration of what he is inspecting, the video footage is of secondary importance. This sample video will prove that a good inspection can be performed in zero visibility and therefore without pictures, but a video without proper narration is of very little use.


After dewatering this dam's intake control tower, we performed an inspection of the sluice gate.	A UCI team sets up equipment to inspect an outlet conduit at a dam.	UCI divers inspected this drop inlet structure and surveyed the area around the structure to determine the amount of submerged tree debris that existed.


We inspected the underwater installation of new stop logs and channels at this dam intake control structure. The ice was over 2' thick and the air temperature was -31 degrees. The job was performed without incident.	UCI divers installed the stop logs shown here into an intake structure at the bottom of a dam to perform an inspection of the outlet conduit in the dry. There is approximately 90' of water on the other side of these stop logs.	UCI performed an underwater inspection at this reservoir owned by the City of Bethlehem, PA.


Our diver discusses plans for the next dive to perform underwater investigations for the U.S. Coast Guard offshore of the Chesapeake Bay.	UCI's diver gets suited up to inspect Aids to Navigation with the assistance of U.S. Coast Guard personnel.	A UCI diver prepares to enter the Kanawha River in West Virginia while inspecting Aids to Navigation for the Coast Guard.


Getting ready to perform an inspection of this lock on the historic Erie Canal.	Our diver seen here is inspecting the inside of a set of lock gates.	UCI's divers performed the underwater investigation of Delta Dam, one of the original dams that was built to supply water to the Erie Canal during periods of drought.	Our diver is shown getting ready to inspect this lock and approach wall on the Champlain Canal.


Inspecting gas pipeline in the Atlantic Ocean.	A UCI diver on deck next to the main gun turret of the heavy cruiser, USS Little Rock after we performed a hull inspection.	UCI divers inspected the highway bridge shown on the left for the MO Highway Dept. after is was struck by the collapsing railroad bridge shown on the right during a flood.	Another photograph of the highway bridge on the right which we inspected after it was struck by the collapsed railroad bridge. Both bridges crossed the Missouri River.	The bridge shown in the background is the Verrazano Narrows Bridge following our inspection of the piers. The bridge connects Brooklyn and Staten Island, NY and is one of longest suspension bridges in the world.