Rijkswaterstaat faces one of the greatest challenges it has ever known. A large part of the civil engineering works in our country, such as bridges and viaducts, date back to the 1950s and 60s and are due to either be replaced or to undergo major maintenance. The increase in traffic, among other things, has led to fixed steel bridges being loaded considerably heavier than for what they were originally designed. RWS would like to establish the constructive safety and remaining lifespan of these bridges, thus substantiating whether or when replacement or renovation is necessary.

This investigation forms part of the RWS Replacement & Renovation Programme. To properly implement this extensive programme, it is necessary to establish a prioritisation of the bridges most in need of renovation or replacement. Regular inspections are not geared up for carrying out an arithmetical investigation and are therefore unsuitable for assessing the remaining life and strength of constructions. RWS has therefore issued a special contract to carry out an expert investigation on all fixed steel bridges, including all related parts such as the supports, expansion joints and the concrete decks. The contract was awarded by RWS to the combination of engineering companies Iv-Infra and Movares in collaboration with ProClass, a data management company. The trio combination distinguished themselves in the market through the quality of their approach. RWS rated their plan of approach extremely positively, partly based on the customer-oriented work process, the efficient working method but also the deployment of top experts.

‘We are proud to have been awarded this enormous contract and we look forward to a long-term and intensive collaboration with nationwide bridge experts and bridge managers from RWS,’ commented Rob van Bodegraven (Iv-Infra), Sander Eijgenraam (Movares) and Jurgen Slangen (ProClass).

Read more about assetmanagement and steel bridges.