Rehabilitation and Strengthening of Bridges over Boa Vista River

This work presents the analysis, strengthening and structural rehabilitation of the Bridges over Boa Vista River (North and South lanes on a Highway in the south of Brazil), due to a fire accident caused by a fuel tanker truck explosion. After the accident, both bridges were blocked and the traffic was diverted to secondary roads, leading to major inconvenience to the users and roads administration. Initially a new structure construction was considered, given the apparent damage caused by the large fire. After inspections, laboratory tests and structural analysis, it was concluded that it would be possible to recover the existing structure with the strengthening in specific regions and conduct a load test on the most affected areas. The collaborative work between the Highway operations, inspection team, contractors and structural engineers has reduced the expected reopening time of both bridges from 6 to less than 2 months.