A total of 157 bridge collapses, not including the ones caused by an earthquake, was collected from the public media report in China from January 2000 to March 2012. The information, including the cause, bridge type, bridge scale and location, was studied in a statistical way. The analysis indicated that the bridge collapse is mostly caused by natural disaster. Especially the flood is a main cause besides an earthquake. Unreasonable construction scheme is the main causes in artificial factors and the collapses of overload and collision have a large proportion in the total. According to the bridge attribute information, arch bridges collapse more frequently than other types; the longer the bridge is, the more frequently the collapse may occur from this statistic; collapses in the countryside are two times more likely than the ones in the city. Based on this study, some suggestions are provided such as a perfect safety assurance system, standardized bridge maintenance and management, and more intensive study of new technology and natural disasters.
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