Investigating risk of bridge construction project: exploring Suramadu strait-crossing cable-stayed bridge in Indonesia

Purpose The complexities in strait-crossing cable-stayed bridge project are increasing the risks. This study aims to identify and analyze the significant and worth-considered construction risks of the first, biggest and longest spanned strait-crossing bridge project in Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach As many as 32 risk events were identified and determined as the risks that exist and can be represented in the Suramadu bridge project context. Data was collected through a design-based questionnaire disseminated to experts involved in the project as well as semi-formal interviews. Several quantitative methods were applied to analyze the significant risks, such as relative importance index, Spearman’s rank correlation test and Mann–Whitney U test. Findings The analyses reveal that “unexpected natural behavior” confirmed by both contractor and consultant parties is the most significant and crucial risk event. Another risk event found to be significant is the “delayed payment.” On the other hand, it is also found that several risks within the legal category are found to be less significant compared to other major risk events. Research limitations/implications The results of the present research should be interpreted in the context of several limitations. Given these possible concerns regarding the generalizability of the findings, along with the relatively low rate of participants in the current research, additional studies are needed to provide a more complete picture of stakeholder perceptions who are involved directly in the construction environment as well as to identify more construction risks specifically in the large-scale bridge project. Practical implications This study has provided fundamental contributions to the body of knowledge and practical implication to promote and assist decision-makers toward developing a comprehensive risk assessment of a large-scale bridge project. Originality/value The analyses of outcomes and discussion, as well as the findings of this research, have shed light on the construction risks understanding, which contributes to delivering a theoretical framework for achieving large-scale bridge project success.