Abstract: A new concept – settlement-based design for pile foundations was proposed,which offered a novel alternative to solve the bump problem between bridges and roads.By adjusting pile lengths and pile numbers,the settlement of pile foundation increased from the main span to the side span to such an extent that it matched the settlement of the embankment at both ends of bridges without any special treatment.After construction,a long-term monitoring program on bridge piles and the embankments was performed,which verified the practicability and efficiency of the present method for single braced bridges.The application indicates that the settlement-based design for pile foundations could greatly reduce the total costs by eliminating the necessity of soft soil treatment at embankments and decreasing pile lengths and pile numbers.