Failure Trend of Transport Infrastructure in Developing Nations: Cases of Bridge Collapse in Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract Sustainable transport system must be supported by resilient infrastructure such as bridges. Bridge is an essential transportation structure that offers unique solutions for road and rail traffic to cross rivers, gorges and difficult ground conditions or for reducing conflict points in transportation system by carrying one mode of traffic over the other. Due to its pronounced economic importance to the society, bridge design aspects must go beyond the physical bridge structures and must cover all the factors that impact on the safe operation throughout its serviceable life span. The environment and the obstacle it crosses, the soil which carries it, the self-weight, imposed dead weights and the moving live loads must be adequately taken care of. The considerable conflicting factors of the site’s soil characteristics, river hydrology, ecosystem environmental impact, aesthetics, historical and archaeological impacts, permanent and transient loads, construction technologies and construction materials bring together a vast expertise of professionals. These sizeable factors must be well managed and harnessed by the vast team of experts involved to guarantee a positive outcome. The vast decay of Nigerian transport system is visible in all complimenting infrastructure including bridges. Cases of bridge collapse abound in Nigeria within the last decade. This research studies the failure trends of bridges in Nigeria and forty-five documented cases are considered for the research. Structural health monitoring approaches were combined with statistical measures to assess the causes and to proffer solutions to the failure trend. Poor maintenance, torrential rainfall/flooding, terrorist attacks, faulty design, poor materials and construction quality and truck overloading were found to be the major causes of bridge failures in Nigeria.