Development of a Safety Assessment Tool for Long-Span Bridges

Abstract

This paper provides a safety assessment tool (SAT) for long-span bridges in China. The authors selected the Sutong Yangtze River Bridge, one of the largest long-span bridges in China, for a case study. Currently, safety assessment of long-span bridges in China is primarily based on human judgment. No effective method exists for estimating the traffic crash risk of long-span bridges under various conditions; this situation creates difficulty in providing effective safety control strategy and developing counter-measures. In this study, the Traffic Software Integrated System was used to simulate the traffic on the Sutong Bridge. A safety assessment model (SAM) was developed from four contributing factors: traffic volume, free-flow speed, percentage of heavy vehicles, and weather conditions. SAM was used as the basis for developing an SAT that could aid policy makers and traffic professionals in better understanding of traffic safety of the Sutong Bridge: (a) a risk map was created to indicate different safety levels of the bridge under various conditions and (b) a user interface was designed to allow users to identify the safety level of the bridge quickly and easily.