Bridges

The completion of Austroads project ABT6141 saw an update to the Guide to Bridge Technology Part 7 published in March 2024. This updated Austroads guideline on bridge inspections presents a harmonised yet flexible approach and framework for bridge inspections across the country.

As a result, the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) is undertaking a comprehensive review of its bridge inspection regime, aiming to modernize a framework that has seen little change over the past three decades. The need for this change has stemmed from recent developments that have highlighted the issues of older and more vulnerable infrastructure, higher risk to public harm, the increased challenges in accessing bridge sites, and the fragmentation of roles and responsibilities leading to both less quantity and quality of information for decision makers.

The review and update of an inspection framework, even when there is a functioning one in the background, is challenging and involves many steps and stakeholders. First principles behind the intent of the inspection regime needs to be re-established; assessment and audit of current efficacy and performance needs to be carried out to define gaps, these must be of sufficiently high evidentiary standard; a carefully crafted framework of requirements and parameters need to be developed; stakeholders need to be brought on board and any cost impacts need to be calculated.

This paper looks at DTP’s journey of its inspection regime review, from a strategy of concepts and the pathway to establishment and implementation.