ABSTRACT
Condition monitoring, assessment and maintenance are considerably neglected in Croatia with respect to investments in new construction, but recently the attention of bridge owners and professional community is starting to turn to methods and techniques for preserving the bridges’ load-carrying capacity and serviceability. These include attempts to create and implement a comprehensive bridge management system that would provide insight into the present condition of the country’s bridge stock. Systematic approach to maintenance planning becomes essential as costs of preserving safety and serviceability of structures start to prevail over new investments and bridge management systems are developed for this purpose. These are well suited to data collection and analysis on network level. However, the project level management, particularly of large and significant bridges, requires bridge-specific maintenance programme. Health monitoring techniques are essential tools for efficient bridge management and maintenance.
