Abstract
Bridges are crucial points of connection in the transport system, underpinning economic vitality, social well-being and logistics of modern communities. Bridges have also strategic relevance, since they support access to emergency services (e.g. hospitals) and utilities (e.g. water supplies). Bridges are mostly exposed to natural hazards, in particular riverine bridges to flooding, and disruption could lead to widespread negative effects. Therefore, protecting bridges enhances the resilience of cities and communities.Currently, most of the countries are not able to identify bridges at higher risk of failure, due to the unavailability of high-quality data, the mix ownership of the assets or the lack of a risk-based assessment. This paper introduces a risk-based approach to bridge management, alongside the gaps of current methodologies. Then, it presents a preliminary protocolled taxonomy for data collection of riverine bridges in flood-prone areas, while illustrating the implication of a national bridge inventory in the UK. This paper advocates the engagement of national authorities for developing a roadmap of policies leading to a unified bridge database functional for strategic risk assessment.
Highlights
Many towns and cities are located upon rivers
The high capital cost of bridges often results in few structures and limited redundancy in the system; their failures can lead to cascading effects and disproportionately negative consequences for the community [3]
This paper firstly provides an overview over traditional bridge management systems, as opposed to more holistic risk-based approaches; in particular, a case study illustrates capabilities and limits of a local bridge dataset in the UK
Summary
Many towns and cities are located upon rivers. When a community grows, connection and accessibility become critical aspects of urban development, and rivers critical crossing points. River bridges are intrinsically highly exposed to flood-related hazards, more than any other infrastructural element They are vulnerable to man-made hazards, such as vessel [1] or vehicle collision [2]; these phenomena are out of the scope of this study. This study overviews current practice of bridge management, framing it within a risk-based approach It provides evidence for the need of a more systematic and protocolled data collection, proposing a new taxonomy for bridges at risk of flooding. It discusses the development of a national bridge inventory for the UK
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