Photo By Brannen Parrish | A Tulsa District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers bridge inspector inspects the underside...... read more read more
Subscribe
Within the tens of thousands of acres of public land managed by the Tulsa District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, there are two types of bridges, vehicular bridges, and pedestrian bridges.
Vehicular bridges are for vehicles like cars or trucks while pedestrian bridges are for pedestrians and sometimes people on bicycles, roller skates or other small-wheeled machines.
Each year, the Tulsa District’s Bridge Safety Program inspectors travel to bridges throughout the Tulsa District to inspect bridges.
“We inspect all kinds of bridges, it could be public or nonpublic. It could be vehicular or pedestrian” said Jennifer Butler, Bridge Safety Program Manager. “In fiscal year 20 there were 13 vehicular inspections; there are 16 in fiscal year ’21.”
The frequency of inspections for a bridge changes based upon numerous factors, which might be the inspection type or the condition of the bridge. In most cases, bridges are inspected every 24 months, but inspection frequency can be 12 months or 60 months. It all depends on the bridge.
A bridge must hold up the weight of the traffic it’s meant to support. Usually that traffic consists of people, vehicles, cargo or some combination of the three. Making sure a bridge can support all the traffic that must go across the bridge is important for safety of those using the bridge.
Tulsa District bridge inspectors must pay attention to small details.
“The most challenging part of the actual bridge inspection is doing your best to see as many details as possible,” said Butler. “If you think about looking at every bolt, weld, joint and making sure that nothing critical is missed it can feel like an overwhelming job.”
Safety is paramount, and that means, the number one priority of the bridge inspection program is to keep the bridge safe for people and vehicles using the bridge. Inspections help ensure bridges aren’t degraded.
“Often it will be much easier and cost effective to maintain a bridge rather than to let it decay and then replace it,” said Butler.
One tool that helps bridge inspectors inspect bridges is called a snooper. It looks kind of like a bucket truck, but it’s built to go under the bridge rather than over the bridge.
If a bridge doesn’t have a catwalk the snooper is an invaluable resource, and it’s a cost-effective method of planning and completing inspections.
Inspections help bridge the gap between repairing and replacing a bridge.
| Date Taken: | 06.07.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 06.07.2021 15:25 |
| Story ID: | 398319 |
| Location: | TULSA, OK, US |
| Web Views: | 72 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, If you want to have bridges you have to do inspections, by Brannen Parrish, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
Army Corps of Engineers
LEAVE A COMMENT