Bridge and Viaduct Engineering and Design

The multi-disciplinary team at SYSTRA has a distinguished track record of supporting bridge and viaduct design, engineering and maintenance – helping asset owners to build, assess and manage every type of bridge structure throughout the asset lifecycle.

Managing essential bridge and viaduct infrastructure

Bridges and viaducts come in a huge variety of structural forms, sizes and models, which require specialist expertise to design, maintain and inspect. From segmented concrete and post-tensioned bridges to long span, movable and heavy freight bridges, the challenges of building and looking after these essential structures are as varied as the bridges themselves.

Bridge owners, infrastructure operators and developers need expert help to understand the statutory requirements and technical challenges associated with building and maintaining bridges and viaducts. Access to capital to fund bridge projects is a significant challenge, as is access to materials, labour and professional design expertise. Bridge owners need to consider not only safety and structural integrity, but also resource efficiency and carbon reduction in the way bridges are designed, managed and maintained.

Bridge owners, developers and managers can find all the expertise they need at SYSTRA. Our bridge and viaduct specialists offer all the professional services required to inspect and assess existing bridges, to re-engineer bridges for strengthening or enhancement, and to design brand new bridges as part of infrastructure development projects.

our experience

Discover how SYSTRA has applied innovation, technology and ingenuity to re-think infrastructure engineering solutions to optimise time, budget, safety and sustainability.

VIEW CASE STUDIES

SYSTRA provides comprehensive bridge inspection, assessment and design services for new and existing bridges and viaducts, including road, rail and pedestrian structures.

Bridge and viaduct design services

SYSTRA bridge specialists are part of a global network of bridge engineers who work together to support all types of bridge and viaduct construction and engineering. Our knowledge and expertise enable us to support clients from the concept design stage through to construction. We carry out feasibility studies at the planning stage to assess the viability of proposed schemes, and help to optimise bridge designs at the early stages of a project.

We design for construction, often within constrained time periods dictated by possession windows on essential infrastructure projects. Our bridge designs focus on efficiency and structural optimisation, helping clients to manage capital and operational expenditure.

We embed sustainability into our projects, providing optimal solutions without compromising the programme or budget. Our expertise in carbon calculation and assessment helps us to design bridges in a way that minimises resources and whole-life carbon emissions. We also design for safety, taking into account construction sequencing, as well as future maintenance and inspection requirements.

Bridge condition monitoring and assessment

Bridge and viaduct inspection and assessment is a major part of our work. Our integrated team has a detailed understanding of historic structure behaviour, giving us the assessment capabilities to maximise the capacity of existing structures, and to advise on strengthening and enhancement works. We understand the asset management process and client needs, and all assessments are carried out in accordance with guidance documents from the asset owner or applicable standards.

We have a proven track record of undertaking structural assessments on a wide variety of simple and complex bridge structures. Our experience includes assessing many railway bridges of varying complexity, form and loading requirements. We use the latest technology in our bridge surveys and inspections to achieve the most accurate assessments and improve asset management decision-making.

Our bridge inspection and assessment work includes:

• Inspecting bridges to both Principal Inspection and Inspection for Assessment levels.
• Supervising specialist investigation contractors.
• Assessing bridges to current DMRB standards to determine load capacity.
• Recommending remedial measures to improve the capacity of bridges.
• Designing and specifying remedial strengthening measures.
• Advising on maintenance requirements, scheduling and prioritisation.

Digital modelling to optimise bridge design

SYSTRA has long experience of working with Building Information Modelling (BIM) to support bridge and viaduct design, and to create and manage digital asset information through a centralised dataset. Our in-house digital information team continuously tests new software and advises our bridge teams on cutting-edge systems – ensuring we remain at the forefront of digital innovation in bridge design and assessment.

Design for ancillary structures

In addition to rail and highway structures, we have extensive experience in designing ancillary structures such as car parks, skateparks, drainage structures, retaining walls and foundations for major traffic signs, CCTV masts and variable message signs.

How can our experts help?

you may also like

Interested in progressing your career at SYSTRA? Find out more about opportunities in our careers section.

SEARCH CAREERS