Addressing All of Society’s Needs in the Selection and Use of Key Bridge Components

Key bridge components – taken here to include bearings, expansion joints, dampers, shock transmission units, seismic isolators and structural health monitoring (SHM) systems, in particular – play a key role in addressing one of society’s greatest needs: facilitating transportation where obstacles exist, by enabling bridges to function safely and efficiently. But society has further needs that must not be neglected in the selection and use of such components – most significantly in relation to their maintenance throughout their service lives and their replacement when this becomes necessary (from traffic disruption and environmental perspectives in particular), but also with respect to issues such as noise and comfort. This topic, and a number of examples indicating the wide range of possible solutions to the challenges presented, are discussed.