ABSTRACT
In Italy, in 2016, the collapse of the Annone Brianza overpass revealed an inherent vulnerability of half-joint reinforced concrete bridges. On 6 May 2020 the National Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport approved the new “Guidelines for risk management, safety assessment and monitoring of existing bridges”: the document list Gerber bridges as critical structures and highlight the importance of “an accurate investigation of the technical and administrative documentation of the existing bridges”. In this paper, Italian case studies on Gerber reinforced concrete bridges are traced from the very first use of this bridge typology to the analysis of current deterioration phenomena occurring in the existing structures. The reported case studies highlight the crucial role of construction history investigation in the preservation of infrastructural heritage.
