A new bridge type taking advantage of the technology of geosynthetic-reinforced soil retaining wall with staged-constructed full-height rigid facing, called Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil (GRS) integral bridge, has been developed. This bridge type comprises a continuous girder integrated to a pair of full-height rigid facings without using bearings and the backfill is reinforced with geosynthetic layers connected to the facings. Results from cyclic lateral loading tests simulating thermal deformation of the girder and shaking table tests simulating seismic loading on small models in the laboratory showed its very high stability under static and seismic loading conditions. A full-scale model was constructed in 2009 to confirm its high constructability. The first prototype GRS integral bridge was constructed at the south end of Hokkaido in 2011 for a new line of high-speed train (Shinkan-sen).Several new GRS integral bridges are at the stages of construction and design.
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