Pipeline infrastructure is decaying at an accelerating rate due to reduced funding, insufficient quality control resulting in poor installation, little or no inspection and maintenance, and a general lack of uniformity and improvement in design, construction and operation practices, among other things. New knowledge is needed to provide the intellectual support for pipeline infrastructure decisions necessary to sustain economic growth, environmental quality, and improved societal health. Developing an intelligent information and knowledge system can provide fast and reliable decision-making tools that are needed to handle the large volume of deteriorating buried pipeline infrastructure systems, particularly water and wastewater pipelines, that pose serious threats to environment if they fail. The dramatic growth in the development and use of sensors and information technology (IT) has had an untold impact upon the nature and performance of the fundamental civil infrastructure systems that support our economy and social environment. Sensors and IT has the potential to address many of the quality issues that infrastructure has faced, by providing detection capability for infrastructure condition, coordination of complex operations, and integration of multi-modal and multi-locational facilities to provide seamless services to consumers. A research project is underway at the newly created Pipeline Infrastructure Research Center (PIRC) at the Pennsylvania State University, to determine if a multi-sensory method can be used for structural health monitoring of buried pipeline infrastructure system. This paper presents our preliminary research efforts. Our objective is to start a comprehensive interdisciplinary research providing understanding, simulation, laboratory testing and development of an intelligent infrastructure system to make cost-effective decisions about pipeline infrastructure maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation. The focus of this research is to develop state-of-the-art concepts and technology for pipeline system data acquisition, data interpretation and utilization of the data for an intelligent renewal and management of pipeline infrastructure. The proposed intelligent pipeline management system will assist municipal and utility managers in improved performance modeling, and will be a step towards preventive rather than reactive repair and rehabilitation. This research will result in significant progress in spatial information generation to support sensors and information technology-based pipeline infrastructure planning, design, construction, maintenance, repair and rehabilitation. It will demonstrate an innovative integration of sensor technology and computer vision for civil infrastructure applications. The spatial information databases generated can also be input to a geographical information system where pipeline infrastructure information can be integrated with other information, such as geological models, environmental layers, sub-soil characterization, structural strength analysis and others to support complex interdisciplinary decision-making processes.