Administration of abnormal vehicles in Ireland

Abstract

With increasing demand to transport heavy loads by road, the effects of abnormally loaded vehicles on bridges must be considered. At present in Ireland, when issuing permits for these vehicles, there is no formal loading analysis procedure in place to examine the effects that they will have on bridges. This paper presents the results of a detailed study that was carried out with the ultimate aim of improving current procedures for granting permits to such vehicles by considering the effects that they have on bridges on the Irish Major Inter-Urban (MIU) motorway network. During the course of this study, tools were developed that will allow permit-issuing authorities to consider these effects. The outputs of the project represent a major improvement on the current system, and should ultimately lead to a greater consideration of the load-carrying capacity of bridges when issuing permits for abnormally loaded vehicles.