Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) applications for bridges frequently rely on some form of
quantitative baseline characterization of the performance or condition of the structure. The baseline characterization
may be very local with a focus on specific structural components or global in nature focusing on the
overall structural system characteristics. Global level characterizations are accomplished using any number of
different static or dynamic testing approaches; however, dynamic test methods are often more practical to execute
for in-service structures. The authors conducted a study to compare the global characterizations obtained
through different full-scale dynamic testing approaches applied to an aged Parker pony truss bridge
that was constructed in 1930. This paper describes the full-scale dynamic testing of the bridge using a couple
of different testing approaches and discusses the variations observed in the characterization results.