Service Life Performance Design of Chacao Bridge

To ensure the service life performance of an exceptional bridge like the Chacao Bridge, it has been paramount to the owner MOP in the design to take care of all aspect of the future operation and maintenance of the bridge. The goal is to ensure a future service life with low operational costs and high and safe bridge availability for traffic. Therefore, unlike design of conventional bridges, the Chacao design build project integrates durability, access and future operation in the design process.

This paper described how an adequate service life performance design can be achieved in the design build contract for the Chacao Bridge. The overall goal is to minimize the life cycle costs of the bridge with a service life of more than 100 years. The bridge design applies modern durability design approaches, control and monitoring systems, access facilities – all aspect which will be documented in an Operation & Maintenance Manual with instructions on how to operate the bridge in the future.