Abstract:With the acceleration of population aggregation to central cities and urban agglomerations in China, urban traffic problems have become increasingly prominent. As an important part of urban lifeline, the capability of disaster prevention and reduction of urban bridges needs to be improved. Based on the comparative analysis of seismic design codes of urban bridges between China and Japan, combined with the development and change of Japanese codes, and in view of the seismic characteristics of urban bridges in China, the specific methods to improve the seismic performance are found. This paper discusses some problems, such as improving the horizontal bearing capacity of bearings, reducing the use of sliding bearings, constructing seismic measures of multiple lines of defense, improving the reinforcement of pier columns, and preventing the bridges from lateral overturning in earthquake.