Innovative and sustainable replacement construction of concrete bridges
The replacement construction of road bridges will gain enormous importance in the future. Since the reconstruction of bridges in Germany is almost exclusively carried out on site at present, it results in considerable traffic restrictions owing to the long construction times. The research project presented here and commissioned by the Federal Highway Research Institute shows ways to significantly reduce the construction time for the areas with traffic routes. A wide range of combination options is available for a variety of applications based on the use of separate solutions for the substructures, superstructures and toppings as well as the construction methods. The individual variants can be applied immediately as these are covered by the regulations. For the stringent application of prefabricated constructions, additional tolerance requirements need to be defined in the regulations. Research is still required for individual variants. The solutions developed can reduce on‐site construction time, and thus traffic restrictions, by up to 66 % and significantly reduce CO2 emissions. The increase in costs remains moderate. At the same time, future projects should also take into account external costs, as this will make the benefits of prefabricated construction even more apparent. An essential prerequisite for the implementation of the solution options shown is the general readiness to apply the modular construction method.