Old bridges in Madeira Island: identification and diagnostic

Abstract

In Madeira Island there are several old bridges mostly of stone masonry and some of concrete, which are a valuable historical heritage, wand hich is important to know and maintain. With this in mind, this paper shows the results of a survey study including diagnostic of a wide range of old bridges in Madeira. It was observed that the great part of these bridges is of stone masonry sometimes strengthened by concrete, and that they have some essentially non-structural anomalies, mainly the presence of vegetation. So, they are in reasonable condition, being important the current maintenance works