Integrating Temporary Bridges into Maintenance and Modernization Strategies of Bridge Infrastructure Assets

Temporary bridges are critical lifelines built to ensure continuity of service during major renovation projects of ordinary bridges or following natural disaster emergencies. Differently from ordinary bridges, which are expected to be in service for 75 years, these structures have a service life of 5 years. In a time in which investments in existing bridge maintenance and repair are expected to increase by 58%, from $14.4 billion annually to $22.7 billion annually (ASCE, 2021), it is essential to plan investments on a risk-informed basis. Establishing a methodology to conduct performance-based and cost-effective designs of systems with a short service life is fundamental to properly inform the management of large assets, where overdesigns at a large scale would lead to uneconomical solutions. Nevertheless, to date, a nationwide consensus on the most appropriate hazard level to adopt nationwide for the seismic design of temporary structures is yet to be established. This project will build upon previous research of the PI supported by the California Department of Transportation (Petrone et al., 2025; Kashizadeh et al., 2025a; Kashizadeh et al., 2025b), which provided recommendations for the design of temporary bridges employing light superstructure in California. This research will substantially broaden the scope, by carrying out suites of risk analyses on a wide range of bridge typologies employed by the Departments of Transportation across the nation, for different site conditions, and levels of seismicity. Collectively, this effort will offer a robust performance-based and risk-informed foundation for updating current design provisions for temporary bridges, an often overlooked yet critical component of resilient transportation networks. In a broader sense, the methodologies developed through this project will go beyond the design of temporary bridges and be applicable to other short-service life infrastructure systems, expanding relevance and applicability of this research.

• Record URL:
  • https://abc-utc.fiu.edu/integrating-temporary-bridges-into-maintenance-and-modernization-strategies-of-bridge-infrastructure-assets/

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $72,190.00
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3552348322

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Innovative Bridge Technologies/Accelerated Bridge Construction University Transportation Center (IBT/ABC-UTC)

  Florida International University
  Miami, FL  United States 

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Performing Organizations:

  University of Nevada, Reno

  College of Engineering
  Reno, NV  United States  89557
• Principal Investigators:

  Petrone, Floriana

• Start Date: 20260101
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge design; Bridge superstructures; Earthquake resistant design; Risk assessment; Service life; Temporary structures
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01987959
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Innovative Bridge Technologies/Accelerated Bridge Construction University Transportation Center (IBT/ABC-UTC)
• Contract Numbers: 69A3552348322
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Apr 27 2026 7:33PM