The ACA points to a deterioration of the conditions of bridges in the province of Vorarlberg 

In its report published today on "Bridge Maintenance in the Province of Vorarlberg", the Austrian Court of Audit (ACA) looked at the condition and maintenance of bridges in the province of Vorarlberg as well as in the cities of Feldkirch and Hohenems. The provincial bridges built in particular in the 1970s and 1980s show a high proportion of severe damage and very severe damage. Furthermore, the funds used for maintenance did not suffice to prevent a further deterioration of the condition of bridges. Binding specifications should be made for the ascertainment and assessment of the condition of bridges on provincial and municipal roads. The audited period essentially spanned the years from 2015 through 2019. 

Bridges built in the 1970s and 1980s are particularly affected by deficiencies

Between 2010 and 2019, the province of Vorarlberg spent an average of EUR 36.5 per year and square metre on the maintenance of its bridges. From 2015 to 2019, the amount totalled some EUR 8.57 million per year. Despite this, the condition of the bridges deteriorated. Every tenth bridge is in poor or bad condition, which corresponds to around 23 per cent of all bridge surfaces.

The provincial bridges built in the 1970s and 1980s show a particularly high proportion of severe damage and very severe damage. The auditors also detected deteriorations in the cities of Feldkirch and Hohenems. The main driving factor for this development is the age of the bridges: at the time of the audit, the province of Vorarlberg and the cities of Feldkirch and Hohenems were responsible for 612, 29 and 41 bridges, respectively. Their average age amounted to 43 years (Vorarlberg and Hohenems) and 56 years (Feldkirch), which means that they surpassed already more than half of their lifespan of 79 to 90 years.

Maintenance backlog

This increasing deterioration also has implications for the future: the province of Vorarlberg, for example, expected annual costs of EUR 9.46 million for bridge maintenance for the period of 2020 to 2024, equalling an increase of ten per cent compared to previous years. The city of Feldkirch also assumed that the annual costs would double and account for over EUR 50,000, and the city of Hohenems expected even a fivefold increase to around EUR 56,000.

The rising costs are aggravated by other issues: if damage to the bridges is not detected and repaired in time, more complex repairs will have to be carried out later. Possible consequences of this would be longer construction works and traffic obstructions. Both the province as well as the audited cities have, in some cases, not complied with the scheduled intervals for ascertaining the condition of bridges.

Furthermore, binding regulations were lacking, and therefore also a legal framework that would oblige the municipalities in particular to take appropriate measures. The ACA therefore suggests to establish – with the involvement of the Austrian Association of Cities and Towns – adapted guidelines for this area, which are applicable throughout the country.

Condition monitoring for bridges partly not possible

The ACA also reveals another problem: the documentation of the bridges’ condition was partly incomplete. It was in particular in the cities of Feldkirch and Hohenems that individual bridges were not recorded. Consequently, a monitoring of their condition was not possible. The ACA also detected occasional contradictions as regards the responsibilities for inspection and maintenance. In the course of the audit, such responsibilities could be clarified.
In the cities of Feldkirch and Hohenems, bridge-related data was incomplete and in part only based on estimated values. In this context, the ACA recommends to systematically collect and uniformly evaluate data in order to create a reliable basis for maintenance.

Call for more cooperation

As regards the interaction between the province and the municipalities, the ACA suggests to step up cooperation: In this way, the corresponding know-how in the area of bridge maintenance could be further developed and expanded. For the province of Vorarlberg, the establishment of a provincial office for the joint and therefore uniform inspection of provincial and municipal bridges could be considered.