ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT Bridges remain a key asset for the infrastructure in EU and elsewhere in the world and their quality are significantly important for commercial and societal well-being of different countries and communities. While the need of quality control of existing bridges is acknowledged by all owners, managers or other stakeholders, methods of such control can vary significantly based on ownership or managerial preference of a region or a country. Under such circum-stances, standardizing the quality control of existing bridges is a major challenge, although the benefits seem to be significant. EU COST Action TU1406, Working Group 5 investigates various facets of this challenge by bringing the experience of several EU countries and experts together, while working closely with other experts around the world. Working Group 5 integrates experiences and information from scientists, engineers and stakeholders of bridge stock of various countries and identified challenges and lessons learnt from previous and existing experiences around the topic. With infrastructure maintenance management evolving over time and becoming more data-driven, it is of timely and strategic importance to engage in a dialogue around this topic. This paper presents the context around standardization of existing road bridges in relation to COST TU1406 and highlights the strategies of quality control based on existing knowledge. Some of the key challenges are highlighted and the focus and evolution of WG5 are detailed. Initial experience and understanding based on interaction with members contributing to WG5 is also presented in this paper. Finally, future visions of the working group are presented. This work will be of relevance for engineers and policy makers who would be involved in or influenced by a standardized framework for controlling the quality of existing bridges despite the disparate methods and levels of information, along with cultures of assessment or evaluation that exist in different bridge stocks.
