Traffic Monitoring on a Highway Bridge - Data collection on local traffic characteristics as a basis for site-specific traffic load models

Developing site-specific traffic load models for individual bridge structures based on local traffic data represents a potentially effective tool for existing road bridges with remaining calculative deficits when assessed according to current codes (guideline for assessment of existing structures, "Nachrechnungsrichtlinie"). A robust data basis to represent the local traffic characteristics is essential for this purpose. This paper presents investigations carried out during a long-term monitoring campaign to comprehensively describe the traffic load on a selected bridge structure along Federal Highway A 92 over a period of one year. For the campaign, a measurement unit consisting of a laser scanner and a webcam, and structural monitoring with the application of bridge weigh-in-motion (BWIM), are used. Suitable strategies and concepts for collecting, processing, and evaluating all available measurement data enable a comprehensive collection of all parameters relevant for traffic load modeling and thus provide a data basis for detailed and realistic modeling of local traffic characteristics. Initial evaluations of the monitoring data for selected parameters and the comparison with otherwise typical assumptions from the literature in case of missing parameter information show partly significant differences to the extreme traffic characteristics underlying the load models in codes.