RECONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR OF STEEL HIGHWAY BRIDGES DAMAGED BY THE GREAT HANSHIN EARTHQUAKE

On January 17th in 1995, the Hanshin district located in the west of Japan was hit by a strong earthquake (Great Hanshin Earthquake) with a magnitude of 7.2, and many elevated highway bridges and piers on the Kobe No 3 Line of the Hanshin Expressway Public Corporation (HEPC) collapsed or sustained serious damage. A technical committee and three subcommittees were established for the reconstruction and repair of the collapsed and damaged structures soon after the earthquake. The activities, especailly of the subcommittee for steel structures chaired by E Watanabe, are introduced in this paper. (A) For the covering abstract see IRRD 882313.