BACKGROUND

The AASHTO Manual for Bridge Evaluation (MBE) was developed to assist bridge owners by establishing inspection procedures and evaluation practices that meet the National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS). This manual is due for a comprehensive update.

New federal legislation and requirements including the Specification for the National Bridge Inventory (SNBI) and NBIS make the need for updating the existing manual more critical.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this project is to identify the steps needed to be able to rewrite the Manual for Bridge Evaluation efficiently.

TASKS

These are some of the elements that must be identified and considered in the development of the roadmap:

• Content that is still valid and clear;
• Content that is still valid but needs to be edited for clarity;
• Content that is out of date or confusing and needs to be corrected or replaced;
• Research that has been completed and must be incorporated;
• Research that may be needed to clarify or correct specification or commentary language;
• The prioritization of research and topics to be incorporated;
• New technology that has matured and should be added to the specifications;'
• Identification of AASHTO COBS technical committees that must be involved in the rewrite or update;
• Identification of stakeholders external to AASHTO COBS who must be involved in the rewrite;
• New inspection methodologies supported by the NBIS;
• Wholistic review of the MBE to remove ambiguities and establish consistency; and
• Updates necessary to make the MBE compliant with SNBI and NBIS.

POTENTIAL DELIVERABLES

• Synthesis of literature search related to bridge inspection and load rating
• A summary of the articles in the MBE which are largely adequate, which need minor revisions, and which need major overhaul or replacement.
• A list of stakeholders, including COBS technical committees and external partners that must be involved in the update/re-write for each of the identified articles.