Condition Assessment of Existing Reinforced Concrete Bridges in Albania

Abstract

Conditions of existing bridges are often problematic issue for many countries. The combination of a variety of local factors that cause deterioration raises the needs for local survey for bridges. Concrete bridges in Albania had been constructed with different standards in different periods and exposed traffic loads which have rapidly increased last two decades. Despite the fact that existing condition of these bridges has not been clearly defined yet. Therefore an attempt was made on this study to draw a general picture of Albanian’s reinforced bridges. The condition of Albanian bridges was presented in this paper based on visual inspection of 24 bridges (3.6 km of total bridges length) from different part of the country, concentrating on local causes of deteriorations. The main causes of the defects are figured out in the study as traffic load, nature force, aging, lack of maintenance and last but not least construction and design deficiencies. Study concludes that general physical state of the bridges are poor, therefore, the service provided by the bridges are in potential hazards.