Monitoring the Field Performance of Timber Bridges Over the Long Term

Timber bridges are often viewed by engineers as less durable than steel or concrete structures. However, they remain a durable and economical option along secondary roads in many rural areas of the country. With well over 75,000 bridges listed by the Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory as having timber superstructures as of 2002, they represent about 15% of the nation’s highway bridges. Many of these timber bridges have been in service for more than 50 years. Knowledge of their long-term performance characteristics will allow maintenance and repair practices to be optimized and for future designs to incorporate improved design details for extending the service life of timber bridges. This paper will discuss long-term data collection goals, overview current work, and outline sensor types/features needed for obtaining reliable data required to successfully monitor timber bridges.