Recent earthquakes in many countries of the world have confirmed the potential for very large seismic events that until now were not forecast. The level of disturbance and destruction of highways and bridges as well as life, suffered during these dominant earthquakes were far greater than structural engineers and their associated design codes had predicted. One important lesson that has been learnt is that it is vital that bridges, which connect major transportation routes, must continue to function after an earthquake. In the quest of this realization, new technologies and design efforts by...