Wood plays a major role in design and construction of modern bridges in Norway. Typical elements of those bridges are double impregnated glued laminated members, stress laminated timber decks, slotted-in steel plates, metal cladding of the surfaces of loadbearing members, and cross girders made of steel. Selected examples of timber bridges in Norway are presented. This review paper gives an overview of the importance of timber bridges in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Switzerland and the USA. The literature in the fields of protection by design, preservative treatment, monitoring and inspection of timber bridges is summarized. In the light of the potential ban of creosote as wood preservative, protection by design is crucial for modern timber bridges in Europe. The basic principles of protection by design are outlined, and an overview of approaches to find alternatives for creosote and the application of modified wood as material for timber bridges is given. Monitoring and inspection are essential to investigate the performance of a timber bridge and to gather data for life cycle estimation. The importance of monitoring the moisture content in bridge structures is pointed out, and an overview of techniques and tools for destructive and non-destructive inspection of timber bridges is presented.

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