Engineering Commons^™

Assessment Of Seismic Retrofit Prioritization Methodology For Oregon's Highway Bridges Based On The Vulnerability Of Highway Segments, Selamawit Tesfayesus Mehary

Dissertations and Theses

Geologists have indicated that the question is not if a catastrophic earthquake will occur in Oregon but when one will occur. Scientists estimate that there is close to 40 percent conditional probability that a Cascadia subduction zone earthquake of magnitude 8.0 or above will strike Oregon in the next 50 years. In addition, the majority of Oregon's bridge inventory was built prior to the current understanding of bridge response and prior to current understanding of the expected earthquake demands. In order to minimize potential bridge damage in the case of an earthquake, one approach is to retrofit seismically deficient bridges. …