Tag: Bridge Inspection

A Crash Course for Load Ratings and Bridge Posting Signs

Have You Ever Wondered What Those Weight Signs Posted at the Ends of a Bridge Mean? These weight posting signs display the maximum safe weight for a vehicle. Since there are a number of different vehicle sizes and shapes on the roads today, different types of vehicles called “Legal Loads” are individually analyzed. Each legal… Read More »

What Is Bridge Scour? Why Should You Care?

The most common cause of bridge failures is from floods scouring bed material surrounding bridge foundations. What is scour? Simply put, scour is the engineering term for the erosion of soil surrounding a bridge foundation (piers and abutments). Bridge scour occurs when fast-moving water around a bridge removes sediment from… Read More »

How Much Weight is Too Much for a Bridge? Engineers’ Ratings Have the Answer

In mid-May of 2018 a driver crossing a bridge in the Town of Lafayette in Chippewa County, Wisconsin, noticed something was wrong with the bridge. Town officials quickly saw the problem – the bridge had a major crack in the deck, and a pier pile holding up the bridge had buckled, causing the bridge to… Read More »