Abstract
Bridges adjacent to embankments are traditionally built as a combination of abutments and bridge girders, but settlement of embankments and maintenance of bridge supports have been long-standing issues. As solutions, reinforced soil abutments that are integrated with abutment structures as reinforced earth embankments have been developed as a geotechnical approach, and integral bridges that integrate bridge abutments and bridge girders have been developed as a bridge engineering approach. However, neither of these approaches solves all the issues at hand. Geosynthetic reinforced soil integral bridges are a new type of bridge that combines reinforced soil abutments and integral abutments, thereby integrating abutments, bridge girders, and embankments. As such, compared with conventional abutments, they excel in terms of the support performance of bridge girders, earthquake resistance, maintenance characteristics, and economic efficiency. The present paper introduces the principles of geosynthetic reinforced soil integral bridges and construction cases.
