Ghent has become a cycling city. Not only the approximately 75,000 students who live in the city travel by bike, but also the population cycles for most short trips. In the past, road and footbridges have been built over the numerous waterways that cross the city. For many of these bridges, the concept is not an ordinary girder bridge, but either a portal or a double-sided clamped beam of variable depth and with an arched axis. Both of these concepts allow for increasing the vertical clearance under the bridge. A changed use due to the increase in bicycle traffic, makes adjustments necessary, whether it be to the pavement, the width, the railings or the slopes. These adjustments are sometimes limited or may be structural. Some road bridges are now also reserved for bicycle traffic and need therefore be thoroughly modified. Finally, some bridges need to be reinforced to meet current requirements. Examples of each type of adjustment is given.
Thielemans et al. (Wed,) studied this question.