Abstract:In the operation of urban elevated bridges, there is a common phenomenon of “emphasizing the main structure while neglecting ancillary facilities”. Taking an urban elevated bridge as a research object, the safety inspections and evaluations of its main ancillary facilities are conducted in order to identify the potential safety hazards and enhance the overall operational safety level of the bridge. The inspection objects include the typical auxiliary facilities such as sound barriers, flower shelves, drainage systems and gantry frames. Various methods such as visual inspection, geometric dimension measurement and material condition testing are adopted. And a load test is carried out on the externally mounted flower shelves to examine their structural response and load-bearing capacity under design loads. The results show that there are diseases such as loose and missing bolts, rusted components, cracked welds, blocked drainage and local deformation in the ancillary facilities of the bridge. Some diseases have posed a threat to the stability of the facilities themselves and the safety of vehicle operation. The load test reveals that although the deformation and stress of the externally mounted flower shelves do not exceed the limits under the test load, there are signs of loosening at the connection nodes, and it is necessary to strengthen daily inspection and maintenance. It is thus suggested that the management and maintenance units change the concept of “emphasizing the main body while neglecting the subordinate”. The ancillary facilities are incorporated into the regular inspection and maintenance plan and the diseases are treated in a timely manner to ensure the operational safety of the bridge. The findings of this inspection and analysis can serve as a technical reference for the inspection and assessment of auxiliary facilities in similar urban elevated bridges.