Extending the life of centenary metal bridges

Abstract

Portugal has high quality standards in the construction, inspection, maintenance and rehabilitation of steel bridges. Since the 2nd half of the 19th century new bridge-building methods were tried out and innovative solutions were found to address complex technical problems.Steel bridges comprise a wide range of advantages such as a notable long-life and cost-effectiveness. Because of this effectiveness steel bridges are today competitive against other construction materials such as pre-stressed concrete. The steel constructional industry is continuously breaking the limits and taking decisive steps to develop more daring and efficient solutions and conducting better maintenance activities.Many of these bridges were subject to several widening and retrofitting interventions. The paper will focus on the presentation of important rehabilitation case studies, highlighting the relevance of these works and emphasising the main advantages, such as: easiness and quickness of construction procedures, flexibility of use and diversity of solutions.