Modernization of Historical Bridges – Environmental Aspects

In many countries, old bridges represent a relatively great part of bridge population. Many of them are of bigger or smaller historical value, influencing also the environment. Their utilization is in many cases technically and economically justified. However, they usually require repair, rehabilitation and/or modernization to meet the contemporary traffic conditions. The above operations demand the application of special methods which should be environmentally friendly as well as technically and economically effective for bridge durability. They should also assure the conservation of historical and aesthetical values of the old bridges. All the problems described above have been discussed and exemplified in the paper.