A Study on Current Bridge Maintenance Policies

The National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS), which were last revised in 2005, require every public bridge to be inspected at least once every two years. Since the 1980's, the USDOT has spent millions of dollars for technology development of bridge rehabilitation and repair. This study focuses on U.S. bridge maintenance policies. The feasibility and practicality of current bridge inspection and replacement policies are briefly reviewed in this paper. A Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) for bridge inspection and maintenance investment allocation strategies is the major component of the paper. A sample of bridges in three counties of North Carolina - Mecklenburg, Beaufort, and Rutherford - are chosen as representing metropolitan areas of the Piedmont, coastal, and mountain areas respectively. This CBA analysis indicates that appropriate increases for funding of bridge inspection and maintenance will result in significant monetary savings in agencies' bridge replacement programs.