Bridges

The quest for sustainable infrastructure practices gathers apace as whole of government policy (e.g. Net Zero Carbon targets) is applied to strategy and then to action. To respond to these imperatives, Transport and Main Roads’ Structures section is charting an operational course to measurably improve and embed sustainability into the design, construction, maintenance and life cycle management of structural assets.

This paper will present the work completed to date through the National Asset Centre of Excellence research program, with a focus on the steps that design engineers can take to influence and create more sustainable bridge projects.

The research undertaken was completed in two stages. The first stage was focused on identifying and assessing the data available to make and quantify decisions to reduce embodied carbon, and articulated the areas where designers can have the biggest impact. The second stage distilled this research into discrete guidance for putting into practice.