Periodic Maintenance of Road Bridges to Ensure a Sustainable Infrastructure – Case Study

Bridge maintenance work represents one of the main activities dedicated to the maintenance and repair of roads in operation. It plays a primary role within the activities undertaken by public administrators. Periodic maintenance work are large-scale works that are executed with a certain specific periodicity. They are planned in advance and aim to partially or fully compensate for the degradation and wear of the road infrastructure. This article aims to briefly present the periodic maintenance works designed to bring the bridge located on the Romanian national road DN 28 at km 6+957 to an optimal state of normal operation. The structure in question was built in 1963, with a total length of 236.90 meters. It consists of two metal I-type girders, continuous next to the piles, arranged at an interaxial distance of 7.10 meters. Before the execution of periodic maintenance works, the reinforced concrete decking, which supports the carriageway and sidewalks, rested directly on the upped soles of the stringers and main girders, without any intermediate element to ensure cooperation. The planned periodic maintenance works aim to bring the structure to normal parameters necessary for safe exploitation and also to increase the comfort of traffic by increasing the total width of the entire structure, including the pedestrian sidewalks. This modification of the constructive parameters is based on calculation of strength and stability, taking into account the new operating time provided to the structure by the execution of periodic maintenance works.