THE STATE OF CONCRETE BRIDGES IN DENMARK

This paper reviews the present state of Danish road bridges, and reports that most are in good condition, with more than 100 bridges needing repair, and almost 90 have inadequate load-bearing capacity. At the same time, financial allocations for bridge maintenance have decreased. The Danish Road Directorate has developed an efficient bridge management system, Danbro, that ensures a high standard and low maintenance costs. Danbro regularly inspects bridges and tunnels, and has placed all relevant information in a database since 1974. Danbro can be used to optimise repair works and prepare lists of maintenance activities. Since 1972, specially trained bridge teams have conducted routine inspections and preventive maintenance on the bridges of the Danish principal highway network. This has substantially reduced several causes of damage, and greatly reduced the traffic problems caused by bridge repairs. The paper gives examples of past bridge repairs and planned future bridge repairs. It indicates several directions of research and development in methods of bridge inspection, maintenance, and repair, which the Road Directorate will be supporting.