Strengthening a Bridge with Advanced Materials

The Oberriet-Meiningen Bridge, built in 1963, crosses the Rhine River in three spans: 35, 45 and 35 m. Half of the bridge is owned by the state of Vorarlberg, Austria, and half by the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Due to increased traffic loads, it became necessary to strengthen the steel/concrete composite bridge in 1996. Structural analysis showed that, besides normal maintenance, the bridge deck was in need of transversal strengthening. The existing deck had been designed for a 14 t truck load, the standard in 1963, while today's design truck load is 28 t.