Shaping composite bridges for traffic and the environment

Carrying traffic loads is not the only task of bridges today; other demands include doing it in a sustainable way and helping to reduce environmental pollution. This generates the call for new bridge shapes. Thanks to the high strength, low weight, low maintenance and other properties, composites may give a better answer to this call than conventional materials. Moreover, new shapes allow for a more efficient application of composites, lowering the construction costs and increasing the performances.