A civil engineering structure is a man-made structure forming part of the infrastructure: a construction that carries, crosses or controls a road, railway or waterway. In Dutch the group is called a kunstwerk — not a work of art, but “art” in the older sense of skill and craft.
What is included
- Bridges — fixed bridges, moving bridges, cycle and footbridges
- Viaducts and overbridges — a road or railway crossing over another route
- Aqueducts — a waterway carried over a road or railway
- Tunnels — road, rail and cycle tunnels
- Locks and weirs — for controlling water level and navigation
- Culverts — pipes or box sections carrying water beneath a road or embankment
- Pumping stations, quay walls, sheet piling and retaining walls — earth and water retaining structures
The collective term is useful because all of these have something in common: they are structurally demanding, they have a long service life, and they require planned management and periodic inspection.
Why the term matters
Highway and waterway authorities keep their structures in separate asset registers. Different rules apply to a structure than to the road surface beside it:
- Service life — design lives in the order of fifty to a hundred years are typical
- Load classification — bridges and viaducts are designed for traffic loading to the Eurocodes; abnormal loads require a separate assessment
- Inspection cycle — visual inspections at set intervals, supplemented by deeper structural assessments
- Replacement burden — many structures date from the post-war rebuilding period and are approaching the end of their design life
In a planning application or a specification you will often meet the phrase “roads and structures”: the carriageway, and everything built into it as a structure.
Related terms
- Civil engineering
- Bridge
- Culvert
- Sheet piling
- Eurocode
- Infrastructure
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