More than 25 percent of the Nation’s 600,000 bridges are rated as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, and more than 30 percent of existing bridges have exceeded their 50-year theoretical design life and are in need of various levels of repairs, rehabilitation, or replacement. Recognizing the extent of this problem, in 2008 Congress approved legislation adding systematic preventive maintenance (SPM) for bridges as an activity eligible for federal funding through the Federal Highway Bridge Program. An SPM program for bridges can be defined as a planned strategy of cost-effective treatments to existing bridges that are intended to maintain or preserve the structural integrity and functionality of elements and/or components, and retard future deterioration, thus maintaining or extending the useful life of the bridge. This course describes the attributes that an SPM program should have, if it is to be acceptable for federal-aid funding. More generally, the course provides bridge-related definitions and commentaries, as well as the framework for a systematic approach to a preventive maintenance program. This course is based on the FHWA document, FHWA-HIF-11042, “Bridge Preservation Guide,” August, 2011.

Learning Objectives

• Understanding bridge action categories: replacement, preservation, rehabilitation, preventive maintenance, condition-based activities, condition-based activities, cyclical (non-condition based) activities
• Knowing the National Bridge Inventory General Condition Ratings
• Learning the definition of “structurally deficient”
• Understanding the concept of “functionally obsolete”
• Knowing the meaning of “sufficiency rating”
• Understanding what is a systematic preventive maintenance program
• Knowing the six attributes of an SPM program needed to qualify for federal funding