Bridges

This paper describes the changes made to two of the Australian Standards, AS/NZS 2312:2002 – ‘Guide to the protection of structural steel against atmospheric corrosion by the use of protective coatings’ and AS 2832.1:2004 – ‘Cathodic protection of metals – pipes and cables’. Even though the latter is related to buried pipes and cables, the basic principles of cathodic protection are equally applicable to bridge structures.Both of the aforementioned standards are being revised by the technical committee MT 014 – Corrosion of Metals. The technical sub-committee for AS/NZS 2312 is MT 014-02 – Corrosion Protection of Steelwork and for AS 2832.1 is MT 014-03-Cathodic Protection of Metals. Significant amendments have been proposed by the sub-committees to both the standards. For example, AS/NZS 2312 will now be published in three parts. The first part will be for paint coatings only. The second and the third parts will be for metallic coatings, covering galvanising and thermally sprayed metallic coatings, respectively. Drafts of both the standards have undergone public comment and are currently being finalised for publication.The purpose of this paper is to highlight some of the amendments to these standards to ensure that the Austroads members are aware of the implications of these changes on the work performed by the individual agencies. It is envisaged that these amendments will help manage corrosion of bridges in the future more effectively.