Bridges act as connections in a city’s transportation system to meet the rising demand for travel, achieve the greatest feasible land use and promote economic interests. In order to prevent serious damage during their service and any natural calamities, especially in poor nations, their periodic quantitative or qualitative assessment is essential to preserve the structure’s performance. Therefore, the current study’s objective is to create a logical rapid visual screening (RVS) system and apply it globally to the existing bridges in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest metropolis, as part of the creation of a mass transit scheme. This study only uses bridges that are situated on main thoroughfares, and on the red and yellow bus rapid transit lines, as case studies in order to ensure the successful implementation of the recommended methodology. Furthermore, using the innovative bridge RVS application, the maintenance urgency index has been calculated by tracking the defective sites based on component importance, as well as the seismic vulnerability score estimated by employing the fragility functions. Based on the results, the identified bridges can be ranked according to the degree of maintenance rehabilitation and their susceptibility to seismic risk in order to help the authorities in repair and maintenance.
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Research Article|
January 12 2026
Condition index of reinforced concrete bridges in Karachi by using rapid visual screening and fragility functions Available to Purchase
Aslam Faqeer Mohammad;
Civil Engineering Department,
NED University of Engineering & Technology
, Karachi, Pakistan
Corresponding author Aslam Faqeer Mohammad (maslam@cloud.neduet.edu.pk)
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Rashid Ahmed Khan;
Rashid Ahmed Khan
Earthquake Engineering Department,
NED University of Engineering & Technology
, Karachi, Pakistan
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Muhammad Hammad RiazUddin;
Muhammad Hammad RiazUddin
Department of Structural Engineering,
Asian Institute of Technology
, Bangkok, Thailand
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Sahibzada Farooq Ahmad Rafeeqi
Sahibzada Farooq Ahmad Rafeeqi
Civil Engineering Department,
NED University of Engineering & Technology
, Karachi, Pakistan
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Corresponding author Aslam Faqeer Mohammad (maslam@cloud.neduet.edu.pk)
Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Received:
December 22 2024
Accepted:
November 04 2025
Online ISSN: 1751-7664
Print ISSN: 1478-4637
© 2025 Emerald Publishing Limited
2025
Emerald Publishing Limited
Licensed re-use rights only
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Bridge Engineering 1–12.
Article history
Received:
December 22 2024
Accepted:
November 04 2025
Citation
Mohammad AF, Khan RA, RiazUddin MH, Rafeeqi SFA (2026;), "Condition index of reinforced concrete bridges in Karachi by using rapid visual screening and fragility functions ". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Bridge Engineering, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1680/jbren.24.01000
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