DescriptionIn the aftermath of the September 11th tragedies, transportation infrastructure has become one of the most visible targets since its destruction could result in substantial human casualties, economic losses, and socio-political damages. Improving bridge security is very important in helping various governmental agencies protect and design structures to better withstand extreme blast loadings. Although many bridge owners have developed their own prioritization methodologies, there is still a need for a better approach to prioritize and assess all bridges not only in New Jersey but in the whole United States. This research focuses on bridges located in New Jersey only, however the analysis and results could be applied to bridges in other states.
The studies include an analysis on risk management and vulnerability assessment by developing a checklist that will provide identification of critical bridges for security hazards and guidelines for bridge security design in order to reduce their vulnerability to attacks. The analysis will first start by identifying bridges in New Jersey and the different types available. Second, identifying security hazard levels and threats along with their probability of occurrence. Third, discussing bridge vulnerability assessment and developing a comprehensive easy to use security checklist that will categorize bridges according to the likelihood that a bridge will be targeted. Finally, taking different prevention measures that could secure the bridges. Examples were conducted by applying the checklist on various types of bridges to check its validity. However, the questions from the checklist and some other information have been omitted from this paper. For more information please contact New Jersey Department of Transportation or refer to the Simple Bridge Security Inspection Report (Nassif 2006).