Abstract: Following from the typical damage patterns of small and mid-span girder bridges in the Wenchuan earthquake, a new type of friction retainer is proposed to substitute for conventional concrete retainers as the transverse restraining device for bridges. Then a three-span continuous girder bridge is analyzed as an example. By considering laminated rubber bearings’ sliding and retainers’ nonlinear characteristics, the transverse seismic performance of the bridge is analyzed when conventional concrete retainers and friction retainers are applied separately. The analysis results indicate that, compared with conventional concrete retainers, friction retainers can effectively reduce the seismic response of the bridge through frictional energy dissipation and improve the bridge’s seismic performance greatly.