Holistic approach to sustainability of bridges

Bridges are of vital importance for the European infrastructure network. Due to their significance in the political economy, the requirement for sustainable, meaning highly advanced, cost-effective, environmentally friendly and long-lived structures is outstanding. Therefore steel composite road bridges were analysed in the Sustainable Steel-Composite Bridges in Built Environment RFCS project (SBRI) by means of a holistic approach combining Lifecycle Assessment, Lifecycle Costs and Lifecycle Performance analyses to promote steel in the bridge construction. The partners of the project were the Institute of Structural Design Universität Stuttgart, Universidade Coimbra, Institut français des sciences et technologies des transports, de l'aménagement et des réseaux, BRISA Engenharia e Gestão SA and ArcelorMittal.
The paper presents a holistic approach to steel and concrete composite bridges by combining analyses of their environmental, economic and functional qualities. The idea of sustainable design is implemented by the project SBRI+ to increase the acceptance of this new way of sustainable thinking, especially among bridge owners and planners. The project includes the SBRI tool which provides designers and authorities with a tool for the evaluation and comparison of the sustainability of different bridge types in the early stages of design, implementing a holistic lifecycle analysis methodology. This helps to select the best option by considering the pros and cons of each alternative in the entire lifespan of the bridge (i.e. construction, operation and end-of-life stages) as opposed to the simple comparison of initial construction costs.