Editorial

Cheap is not economical

Nowadays bridges must fulfill ending with dismantling and potential re-use or recycling,
numerous, but also different including the users’ costs. Taking all this into account steel
tasks. While only some of and composite bridges are significantly at an advantage.
them are intended to be a Modern steel products provide for lower construction
landmark, their purpose is of- costs and less maintenance effort. One example is self-
ten only being able to bring weathering steel. Almost forgotten in some countries, this
people from one side to the steel lasts for a lifetime without any maintenance. No ad-
other side – simply and func- ditional corrosion protection is required. The ECCS AC3
tionally. As a result, the costs Bridge Committee is currently working on updated recom-
of achieving this goal are key. mendations for the use of self-weathering steel in bridge
Thus, in many countries to- construction. Additionally, the nominated projects for the
day’s awarding practice for 5th European Steel Bridge Awards show that steel bridges
Dr.-Ing. Dennis bridge structures only favors not only enable large spans, durability, lightness, aesthetics
Rademacher the cheapest bridge design. and individual designs, but also a conversion or reinforce-
Unfortunately, essentially ment after use over several generations. This sometimes
only the construction costs are calculated. Follow-up costs becomes necessary when user requirements, such as traffic
such as maintenance or replacements of various bridge situations, change.
components, however, are often neglected. The effects on Be inspired by the variety of products and projects
traffic and the associated negative consequences for soci- with modern construction and production methods pre-
ety due to comparatively long construction periods and sented in this issue, even if some of them might have been
short lifecycles of concrete bridges are not considered at not the cheapest solution in terms of pure construction
all. But we all – the bridge users – must bear exactly these costs. Think also about the future and not only about the
costs later. This is already noticeable today in some West- purse in the present. A holistic approach can help to find
ern European countries. Many cheap concrete bridges the most economical solution.
must be repaired or even renewed long before they reach
their design lifetime. This leads to uneconomical conges-
tion due to restrictions on availability.
New methods of holistic consideration are now easily
applicable. Intuitively usable software like the SBRI+ tool
allows the holistic view of a bridge structure with all costs Dr.-Ing. Dennis Rademacher
over the lifetime, starting from construction, service and Chairman ECCS AC3 Bridge Committee

178 Steel Construction 11 (2018), No. 3