Application to an urban bridge stock of a prioritization procedure based on seismic assessment compared with the novel Italian guidelines

The challenge of large-stock maintenance with limited budget is faced by administrations in charge which need tools for management and intervention prioritization. This need is especially perceived for bridges which are strategic structures and represent crucial elements in roadway networks. Since 2016, a combined prioritization procedure has been applied to the bridge stock of the Municipality of Padova (Italy) to assess both the condition state, accounting for degradation, and the seismic vulnerability. The proposed methodology evaluates the level of degradation through visual inspections and type-specific forms for the defect survey, while the seismic vulnerability is assessed by means of fragility curves previously obtained by the authors for typical Italian bridges. This contribution focuses on the application of the seismic-based prioritization. The identification of the bridge typologies which appeared to be more seismically fragile is presented, comparing this aspect with results from the recently issued novel Italian Guidelines for the management of existing bridges