Inspecting the superstructure of the Lewis and Clark Bridge, 340 feet above the Columbia River.

The safety of bridge structures in Washington State is ensured through a meticulous inspection system, incorporating state and local agency inspection contributions. The condition of all bridge decks, superstructures and substructures are rated based on these inspections. There are roughly 7,000 bridges on the state, city and county road systems and most are inspected every two years.

Staffing

• Washington State is on schedule to deliver its 2010 state inspection program completely and on time.
• WSDOT inspected 1,864 state and local agency-owned bridges in 2009. This year, we are scheduled to inspect 1,922 bridges, including 67 underwater bridge inspections performed by WSDOT’s specialized bridge inspection dive team.
• WSDOT’s Bridge Preservation office has 56 trained engineers and technicians trained to perform bridge inspections. These include specialized teams like the dive team that performs work under water and the mechanical and electrical inspectors that inspect moveable parts of a bridge.
• WSDOT is nationally known for its high level of structural technical expertise.

Inspection Schedules

WSDOT’s Bridge Preservation office is responsible for keeping bridge inspections on schedule; however logistical challenges can make it difficult. Challenges include:

• Reduced work windows because of high traffic demands thus limiting inspectors’ access to key sections of bridges.
• More stringent regulatory obligations also require adjustments to inspection schedules to accommodate nesting periods of protected migratory bird species.
• Inspection schedules have flexibility built to accommodate unplanned inspections in the case of a bridge suffering unexpected damage.

Bridge Inventory

• The Bridge Preservation office has steadily needed to increase the number of inspectors since 1998 due to the increasing inventory of state owned bridges and logistical challenges like securing equipment and traffic control requirements.
• WSDOT has constructed 99 vehicular bridges greater than 20 feet in length from 2002 to 2006. We’re adding an average of nearly 20 bridges per year.
• The average age of the WSDOT bridge inventory is roughly 40 years.