Application of the new Italian assessment guidelines to a 1960s prestressed concrete road bridge

Abstract The Italian road network comprises many bridges that were constructed around the middle of last century and are now close to, or have exceeded, their intended design lives. The advanced state of degradation of many of the bridges has been a contributing factor in a number of collapses in recent years, with the problem being particularly prevalent in prestressed concrete construction. In response to the need for improvements in the reliability of existing Italian bridges, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure published in 2020 a new set of guidelines for assessment and monitoring. This article undertakes a critical review of the guidelines, which are currently in a trial phase, through the multilevel assessment of a case‐study prestressed concrete road bridge. Four key areas for potential improvement in future revisions are identified: refinement of the level 3 preliminary assessment approach, greater emphasis on assessment rather than design thinking, objective Knowledge Levels, and treatment of elements with unknown levels of degradation.