A preliminary taxonomy for bridges at risk of flooding

Road networks are the backbone of urban environments, since they contribute to the prosperity, development and connection of modern society. Bridges are critical elements of these networks since they have limited redundancy and high exposure to e.g. natural hazards. Flood can cause extensive structural damage to these key transportation components, which can lead to significant indirect damage. Modern cities are complex “system of systems” where the interdependency between urban mechanisms and road functionality could further amplified the flood-induced loss; for example, functional roads result particular important during emergency planning (e.g. evacuation, repair, rescue). Moreover, flood events are intensifying in frequency and intensity in many locations worldwide due to societal and climatic changes. Therefore, understanding the resilience of road networks is pivotal for protecting communities. This could happen by identifying the most vulnerable links of the network and exploring strategies for increasing robustness. Currently, most of the countries are not able to identify bridges at higher risk of failure, due to the unavailability of high-quality data, the mix ownership of the assets or the lack of a risk-based assessment. This paper introduces a risk-based approach to bridge management, alongside the gaps of current methodologies. Then, it presents a preliminary protocolled taxonomy for data collection of bridges, while illustrating the implication of a national bridge inventory in the UK.