Speaking

With the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) increased focus on addressing critical findings (Metric #21), correcting bridge deficiencies in a timely fashion has become a top priority for local and state agency bridge owners. It can be challenging to develop a comprehensive plan to address these deficient structures due to the variety of bridge types, the age of the structures, and coordination with stakeholders such as elected officials and non-engineers.

This presentation will include cost-effective procedures used to track and mitigate critical findings during fracture critical bridge inspections to address public safety including closure, repair or replacement of the bridge. Topics will include:

• What constitutes a critical finding
• The critical finding process and timeframe (using tables to record and track findings)
• How to mitigate the critical finding (post, repair or close)
• Development of repair plans that can be easily understood by all interested parties (scour mitigation, member strengthening, bearing seat rehabilitation)
• Best practices for communicating to key stakeholders and coordination with FHWA

Multiple case studies covering a wide array of bridge repairs and rehabilitation will be presented.