The Federal Highway Administration's Bridge Inspector's Reference Manual (BIRM) is a comprehensive manual on programs, procedures, and techniques for inspecting and evaluating a variety of in-service highway bridges. BIRM
serves as the basis of a comprehensive National Highway Institute training program in bridge-safety inspection. The present course is based on BIRM's Section 4, Bridge Inspection Reporting System.
The course begins with examples of data collection
forms used to organize data describing bridge inventory items (items pertaining to a bridge's characteristics) and bridge appraisal items (judgments of the condition of bridge components). Next, guidelines are given for condition and appraisal ratings
of bridge components and for overall culvert ratings. Items to be included in the bridge record are listed at length. Documentation of the precise description of bridge defects is stressed.
The necessary information that must be included in a
comprehensive bridge report is described. Finally, the standardization of bridge inspection data by means of the CoRe (Commonly Recognized) element system is introduced.
Topics:
This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:
Intended Audience: for civil, construction, and structural engineers, and would be of particular interest to consulting engineers or to engineers serving in government organizations concerned with the safety of bridges.
Publication Source: US DOT (Federal Highway Administration)
