Environmental Stewardship in Civil Infrastructure: A Comprehensive Review of AI Applications in Road and Bridge Engineering

Authors

  • Yi Su

    College of Road and Bridge Engineering, Guizhou Communications Polytechnic University, Guiyang 551400, China; Guizhou Key Laboratory of Intelligent Construction and Maintenance of Mountain Bridge and Tunnel, Guiyang 551400, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/jees.v8i6.13271
Received: 30 January 2026| Revised: 26 April 2026 | Accepted: 29 April 2026 | Published Online: 11 June 2026

Abstract

The road and bridge infrastructure systems are also among the most resource-intensive systems in the built environment, which produce massive environmental impacts on their life cycles. Civil infrastructure environmental stewardship must therefore demand decision-making methods that are no longer limited to the static analysis of sustainability, but rather to the adaptive and data-driven management of long-lived resources. Recent innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) can provide transformative potential to facilitate this transition by making predictions, optimization, and continuous monitoring in the process of planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and end-of-life stages. The article is a comprehensive review of AI applications that promote environmental stewardship in road and bridge engineering. The review combines the state-of-the-art approaches, which involve AI in combination with the life-cycle assessment, digital twins, sensing systems, and asset management systems to minimize greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, material use, waste, and ecosystem disruption. The focus is specifically on the way AI advances environmentally responsible planning and design, low-impact construction delivery, predictive and network-level maintenance approaches, and circular end-of-life approaches. The review also explores cross-cutting issues to do with the quality of data, model transferability, interpretability, governance, and equity that impact the practical efficacy of AI-based stewardship. This article forms a systematic basis for future research and implementation by categorizing the current research on environmental impact domains, life-cycle stages, and AI methods. The results show how AI can transform the infrastructure management system into a proactive, measurable, and robust environmental custodianship, as well as the requirement of interconnected systems, reliable models, and institutional preparedness.

Keywords:

Artificial Intelligence; Environmental Stewardship; Road Infrastructure; Bridge Engineering; Life-Cycle Sustainability

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How to Cite

Su, Y. (2026). Environmental Stewardship in Civil Infrastructure: A Comprehensive Review of AI Applications in Road and Bridge Engineering. Journal of Environmental & Earth Sciences, 8(6), 70–88. https://doi.org/10.30564/jees.v8i6.13271

Issue

Vol. 8 , Iss. 6 (June 2026): In Progress

Article Type

Review

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Copyright © 2026 Yi Su

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.

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