Bridge Inspection Manual And Coding Guide

The Recording and Coding Guide for the Structure Inventory and Appraisal of the Nation's Bridges (the Guide) has been revised several times in the past. This latest edition revises the Guide to convert all of the units of measurement to the International System of Units (SI). It also provides more thorough and detailed guidance in evaluating and coding specific bridge data. New items have been added to include the reporting of Federal Lands Highway Systems, each State's existing linear reference system, and the methods used to determine the load ratings. Some items in the Guide have also been expanded to provide more definitive and explicit explanations and instructions for coding. Further, more basic definitions applicable to the instructions in the Guide are provided. The changes are based on comments received on the previous Guide and the metric version draft Guide. This revised Guide should be thoroughly reviewed by each individual involved with the National Bridge Inspection Program.

The Pontis Bridge Inspection Coding Guide was developed by the Staff Bridge Branch of the Colorado Department of Transportation. This revision includes cross references to the General Comments and Definitions necessary to provide for uniform inspection reports from various bridge inspectors and is intended to supplement the AASHTO Guide for Commonly Recognized (CoRe) Structural Elements with clarifying information and additional elements unique to Colorado bridges and structures. If conflicts occur between the guides, the AASHTO guide governs.

This synthesis reports bridge inspection practices in the United States and selected foreign countries. The synthesis is a collection of information on formal inspection practices of departments of transportation (DOTs). These are primarily visual inspections and they provide data to bridge registries and databases. For U.S. inspection practices, this synthesis reports on inspection personnel, inspection types, and inspection quality control and quality assurance. Staff titles and functions in inspection programs are reported, together with qualifications and training of personnel, formation of inspection teams, and assignment of teams to bridges. Inspection types are described in terms of their scope, methods, and intervals. Quality control and quality assurance programs are reviewed in terms of the procedures employed, staff involved, quality measurements obtained, and the use of quality findings in DOT inspection programs. Foreign practices are presented in the same organization of inspection personnel, types, and quality programs. Comparisons of U.S. and foreign inspection practices are included. Information was obtained from a questionnaire sent to U.S. state transportation departments, similar questionnaires modified individually for transportation agencies in selected foreign countries, and formal documents used by transportation departments and agencies. These documents primarily included bridge inspection manuals, inspection training manuals, and technical memoranda, but also included blank forms for inspections, DOTs job descriptions for inspectors, and descriptions of inspection training courses. Overall, this synthesis includes information from forty U.S. state transportation departments and from roads agencies in eight foreign nations (Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). The synthesis also includes, in an appendix, information from a few provincial and municipal transport agencies in Canada.