Bridges

The terminology of design life or service life of a bridge is often used in engineering circles in a variety of different contexts, whether it be for design or asset management activities, or justifying the need for a new bridge. Despite these common phrases, quantifying and reliably measuring the life of a bridge, and more specifically, the residual life of a bridge, remains ambiguous.

This paper explores the origins of these definitions and discusses the various contexts in which these phrases are used and their validity. Examples are provided to explore residual life of a bridge, particularly when considering asset management principles, risk informed decisions and investment strategies. A discussion is provided to question our understanding of this topic in order to enhance our knowledge and approaches to quantify residual life of bridges.