ABSTRACT
According to the new Italian standards, all existing bridges that have been declared not compliant with the current applicable rules (Norme Tecniche 2018) shall be subject to assessment in the next years. Due to the high number of non-compliant bridges, the Administrations and the infrastructural managers are asked to choose the appropriate maintenance activities to be performed. The question as to how to schedule a long-term planning for the interventions still remains unanswered. The managers are not only asked to assess an order of priority for the works to be done – which simply allows to decide the bridges to be restored – but also to conduct a more complete assessment so as to define the type of the restoration works needed and the relevant timeframe. By carrying out a complete risk analysis for each bridge, the best maintenance strategy appears to be the one that entails the lowest possible effort, such cost for each bridge expressed not only as the sum of the construction costs but including also all possible damages of the structure multiplied by their probability of occurrence (calculated with respect to a reference time period). By treating the probability of collapse or damage to the structure over time as a living cost, the manager will have the most efficient and reliable rational tools to determine the best maintenance strategy to follow.
