Reflection on the Possibilities for Monitoring the Aging Bridge Structures

The paper contains an analysis of the current state of road bridges in the territory of the Czech Republic. The basic types of defects and several usual faults of road bridge structures and their influence on bridge load capacity are described. The inspection of bridges as an important part of the general reliability theory includes three subsystems: structure, load, and environment. In addition, the article gives examples of inspections of three different road bridges. The conclusions are based on the bridge structures behavior under oversize traffic load. All the above mentioned activities aim for the preservation of the bridge load capacity and for the extension of the bridge service life.