Bridges

Concrete deterioration due to reinforcement corrosion poses one of the greatest risks to the integrity of the Roads and Traffic Authority’s (RTA’s) bridge stock. As an alternative to Impressed Current Cathodic Protection (ICCP), the RTA is assessing the viability of Sacrificial Cathodic Protection (SCP) as a costeffective remedial solution.

Based on initial trial results, which demonstrated satisfactory corrosion protection, the RTA has implemented SCP as a full-scale rehabilitation technique on four bridges. Three different anode types have been installed. SCP would appear to offer ‘installation cost’ savings of up to 50%.

Results to-date indicate the satisfactory performance of each system and the predicted service life would appear to be in excess of ten years, which suggests that the solution is cost effective in terms of ‘whole-of-life’ costs.