What type of maintenance do bridges require

The elements that are typically part of a sound bridge preservation program include:. Preventive maintenance is a more planned — and generally more cost-effective — approach to maintaining bridges. It is proactive rather than reactive.

Maintenance is done to preserve not simply repair entire bridges and their components, prevent future deterioration, and sustain or improve their condition. Preventative maintenance is most effective on newer structures that have a significant useful life ahead of them and few components that are damaged, decayed, or broken.

At its simplest, the key difference between preventive and preservative bridge maintenance is:. The checklist at the end of this article provides more information about these and other preservative maintenance tactics. Preventative maintenance includes doing scheduled, non-condition-based activities and repairs as they are warranted.

Cyclical preventative maintenance activities. Performed on a pre-determined schedule, to preserve existing bridge conditions and keep them from getting worse. The elements being treated may not be improved. However, continued deterioration is usually delayed. The inherent value of this approach is that bridge managers may assign different levels of preventative maintenance to structures that have higher or lower usage patterns or traffic volumes. Condition-based preventative maintenance activities.

Happen only when issues are identified during bridge inspections. This type of maintenance is usually done on bridges that are in basically good to fair shape. Maintenance restores bridge elements to a state of good repair. Similar to other cyclical preventive maintenance activities, this type of bridge work is focused on extending the useful life of structures.

Some typical condition-based preventive maintenance activities include sealing and replacing leaking joints; installing deck overlays, cathodic protection systems , and scour countermeasures; and painting and sealing steel structural elements.

Bridge restoration returns bridges to full structural integrity and corrects major safety defects. This is, by far, the most challenging, comprehensive, and expensive type of bridge repair project, and in many cases, it is easier and cheaper to build a new bridge. Restoration work can be done on one or more elements or sections of a bridge. At its simplest, it may involve completely replacing the decking, which could take months and many millions of dollars to do.

At a more complex level, it could include a complete overhaul of its piers and substructure. Often, bridges that go through rehabilitation are also widened or otherwise updated to handle more traffic. You want to avoid crises at all cost by performing the cyclical and condition-based maintenance regularly. If the bridge gets severely damaged or neglected, rehabilitation or a total bridge replacement might be needed. ProTip: To make sure you are able to properly maintain the bridge, it is important to have all the right equipment for the job.

Having the best equipment allows you to save time and money when a repair is needed. This reusable dewatering tool is a better option than traditional sheet piling or sandbags because it takes less time to set up and is also environmentally friendly, too. By being proactive with your bridge repair and maintenance, you can help keep our American bridges safe and functioning.

By planning and scheduling cyclical maintenance and condition-based preventions, and by having the right tools for the job, you can help eliminate crises and the need for more drastic issues that might lead to a bridge replacement.

Contact us to learn more ways on how you can adopt a proactive bridge repair and maintenance plan. In many cases the authority responsible uses private companies to undertake inspection and maintenance activities on their behalf.

The 'Design Manual for Roads and Bridges' requires that a bridge has to undergo a general visual inspection every two years and a principal close visual inspection every six. Any concerns are followed up with special inspections. Then there are special guidelines for higher risk structures. For example, for pre-stressed or post tensioned concrete structures where you pass a high strength steel tendon tightly through concrete to compress and thus strengthen it there are specific regimes for inspection.

They can be difficult to inspect because the steel tendons are buried inside the concrete making them hard to see, so we have to use more advanced inspection and monitoring techniques. For major structures in this country, we have a regime of independent checking of designs called Category 3 Checks.

It is recognised globally as one of the most rigorous systems for design checking as it has to be carried out by a completely independent organisation. Importantly, it applies to interventions in existing structures as well as the design of new structures. Bridge Maintenance Page Content. Dept Content Left. Repair and Replacement of bridge railing, decks, approaches and substructures Removal of Drift and Debris Erosion protection Moveable Bridge Operation and Maintenance Guardrail and Retaining Wall Repair and Maintenance Rehabilitation activities include stringer replacement, deck replacement, bridge painting, etc.

Several annual contracts are described below: Bridge Repair Project - The County typically has one bridge repair project annually. Bridge Painting Project - The County typically has one bridge painting project annually.