The challenge of long-span suspended bridges

The history of suspended bridge constructions runs along the last two centuries as a continuous challenge to the extreme of structural design. Theoretical models say that the span threshold is nearly achieved in the designs currently in their final stage, i.e., those successive to the Akashi bridge opening at the end of last century. The long life of these bridges, however, poses the management problem in a new light: the management of the structure becomes the real technical item. Inspection was the natural support to the management decision making. Monitoring is expected to be coupled with inspection deeper and deeper. A discussion of the gap between the expectations and the actual technology offer is the core of the paper.