Professors suggest vital bridge assessment improvements to contain costs

With the cost of building an average 100-m-long and 14-m-wide bridge having increased to R20 000 per square metre, it is important that emerging countries such as South Africa considers how it can preserve the asset lives of bridges.

To avoid the R28-milion replacement cost of a typical bridge, consultancy Zutari associate and Stellenbosch University Professor Pierre van der Spuy says a new way of conducting bridge inspection using a reliability-based methodology can preserve assets that would otherwise need to be strengthened or replaced.