Page 26 - Bridge and Highway Structure Rehabilitation and Repair

1 Section Overview

• Practice and procedures
for diagnostic design,
Overview life cycle costs,
defi ciencies, and
studies of bridge
failures.
of Bridge • Developments in theory

and code methods such
as LRFR and LRFD.
Engineering • Improving aesthetics
and ensuring security.
• Need for preserving
historical bridges
and safety use in
engineering.

1.1 REHABILITATION AS A MODERN INDUSTRY

1.1.1 Overview of Bridge Engineering
Maintenance of transportation facilities is a major industry. Transpor-
tation is an important requirement in people’s daily lives. Both urban and
rural areas are linked by highways and bridges. Global civilization is now
dependent upon the use of automobiles and the public transport system. This
giant industry maintains infrastructure for safe travel on roads, highways,
and interstate highways. Highway maintenance costs hundreds of billions of
dollars annually. Administrative Issues
Bridge engineering is the marriage of many diverse disciplines including
architecture. This variety of disciplines requires some knowledge of the chem-
istry of natural and man-made materials, composites, metallurgy, structural
mechanics, statics, dynamics, statistics, probability theory, hydraulics, and

soil science, among other topics. Modern design seems to be reflected in the
electronic CAD drawings required in the field for construction and repairs. Section 1

Christina Rosetti offered the following poem describing the kind of color-
ful rainbow bridges she would like to see:

There are bridges on the rivers,
As pretty as you please.
But the road that bridges earth to heaven,
Is prettier far than these.

All constructive ideas seem to benefi t mankind!

Engineers have constructed nearly one million highway and railway
bridges in the U.S. alone. These include pedestrian, equestrian, and small
garden bridges or the hidden culverts. The process has evolved over hundreds

of years and is reflected in a wide variety of geometry, structural forms,
shapes, and materials.

1