The problem of punching shear usually arises in reinforced concrete slabs subjected to concentrated loads and particularly in concrete bridge decks due to development of an internal arching system. Ongoing research revealed that the governing mode of failure of concrete bridge decks is not flexure and that using a flexural design method usually led to unnecessary high levels of steel reinforcement. This paper examines the applicability of nonlinear finite element formulation of restrained concrete bridge decks. A general purpose finite element program ANACAP was employed in this study. The accuracy of the nonlinear finite element analysis is demonstrated using test results conducted by other researchers. The results of the finite element analysis are also compared with those obtained from a rational model. The experimental results and the theoretical model provide insight to the fundamental behavior of concrete bridge decks.