After a presentation of the pathology of old prestressed beam and slab bridges (refered in
France as VIPP), the paper reviews the causes and then presents the difficulties of the appraisal and the
methodology developed to assess the residual load carrying capacity of this type of bridges. Then, the paper
addresses the problems encountered with the management of such structures by emphasizing the interest of
the risk analysis for helping owners to optimize the management of their patrimony, and finally reviews different
solutions of repair used with success to maintain or to strengthen the capacity of these structures