Sustainability of bridge maintenance

Bridge maintenance activities are important to consider within sustainable development due to the cost and environmental impact associated with various maintenance activities. Comparisons have been made between different bridge structural forms, based on materials, components and construction method, but less information is available on bridge maintenance activities to help decide a sustainable structural form. Typical maintenance aspects of the predominant forms of bridge structure (i.e. concrete, steel and masonry bridges) were considered in this study to reveal their sustainability in terms of materials, energy, transportation, human health and ecosystems. The results indicate that concrete and steel bridge maintenance activities have an average impact of 42% and 46% compared with 12% for masonry bridge maintenance activities. It is concluded that the component parts of concrete and steel bridges should be revised as they play an integral role in the selection of maintenance options

Life-cycle assessment environmental sustainability in bridge design and maintenance

Interviews were undertaken with expert bridge designers to reveal their opinions on environmental considerations and the possibility of integrating life-cycle assessment into the bridge design process. Bridge designers were generally found to consider that the need for the bridge, access for future maintenance, use of quality materials, longevity, cost savings and sustainability are matters more important than life-cycle environmental emissions. Moreover, the limited awareness of life-cycle assessments among bridge designers along with a keenness to execute clients' requirements, mostly on the basis of cost, has further widened the gap. This gap could be overcome by ensuring that detailed environmental matters such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions are considered as design criteria; encouraging designers to highlight emerging environmental matters in the design brief; heightening awareness of life-cycle assessment among designers to increase its potential usage; and factoring life-cycle assessment damage indicators into the bridge design process