The BERNARD Gruppe is carrying out several challenging infrastructure projects on behalf of the provincial government of Vorarlberg. Bridges and roads must be refurbished or completely renewed after a certain service life. Our experts are providing the required design services and structural analyses.
A huge part of the infrastructure buildings date from a construction period around 50 years ago. In the foreseeable future, many of these structures will be due for general refurbishment or replacement. Bridges from this period account for over 60 percent of the province’s total bridge surface, of which around 40 percent are classified as being in need of renovation. A comprehensive exploratory program is carried out at the start of each project. The materials used are checked for possible environmental pollution and corrosion damage. Based on these results, a decision is made as to whether a new building is required or whether the existing structure can be maintained by an upgrade and general refurbishment. The aim of every general refurbishment is to ensure that the structure has a remaining life of over 50 years. In certain cases, a so-called integralization of the bridge is applied. This process changes the static system of the structure in such a way that maintenance-intensive components – such as bridge bearings – become superfluous. The required structural analyses and design solutions represent a central challenge and reflect the technical expertise of the engineers at the BERNARD Gruppe.
Christian Wollinger, BERNARD Gruppe
