Fatigue damage can greatly reduce the lifespan of steel bridge decks. To accurately assess fatigue reliability, it's important to consider the order in which loads are applied. A new method was developed to calculate fatigue reliability for weld joints in steel bridge decks, taking into account the history of fatigue loading. By analyzing strain data over time, researchers found that initial damage and increasing traffic can significantly decrease the fatigue reliability of these structures. It's crucial to consider load sequence effects when evaluating the fatigue reliability of steel bridge decks with long-term strain monitoring systems.