The Bridge Capacity System
Location
Los Angeles County
City or County Responsible for Project
Los Angeles County
Category
Bridge: Efficient and Sustainable Bridge Maintenance, Construction and Reconstruction Projects
Author
Tera Haramoto
LA County DPW
626-458-7829
Project Description
In 2011, in collaboration and partnership with Caltrans and FHWA, the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works (DPW) assumed a leadership role in developing an innovative, cost effective, and user-friendly program available for all regulatory agencies within the State of California to process Oversize or Overweight Transportation (OOT) permits. As specified in the California Vehicle Code (CVC), an OOT Permit is required for movement of vehicles and loads exceeding statutory size and weight limitations. Many local agencies do not have the technical ability to review overweight vehicle impact on bridges and issue OOT permits without such considerations, thus resulting in high-risk and accelerate degradation of local bridges. Caltrans, FHWA and DPW recognized a large-scale unmet need for a streamlined review process through a web-based system called The Bridge Capacity System (BCS). The program is designed to provide local regulatory agencies a way to comply with OOT permit requirements to protect existing bridges, ensure public safety, and improve the sustainability of local bridges. In 2013, DPW completed the initial development phase of the BCS which has the ability to verify inputted weights of a permit vehicle against the load carrying capacity of all bridges on a route and to check bridge clearances to prevent truck collisions with the superstructure. Staff of any engineering experience can conduct a highly technical review in a quick and effective manner. The use of Geographic Information System (GIS) layers of bridge data and street maps eliminates tedious calculations by hand, manual map review and the use of bridge data tables. By applying this cost effective program, the number of work hours were significantly reduced to process and provide an accurate OOT Permit report. In addition to increasing work productivity and work flow, the program provides proactive measures to reduce the probability of over usage to preserve and protect our local bridges for commuter safety. Currently, the BCS is used by DPW Structures Section to aid in the permitting process of approximately 40 overload permits per year that exceed the 250,000 lb weight limit. The program also collects data of the most highly crossed bridges which provide an analysis for appropriate mitigation and funding needs for future bridge maintenance. The program includes data for about 11,000 local agency bridges throughout 58 counties and 482 municipalities within the State of California. Once the BCS is fully implemented, the program will serve as a tool for other permit-issuing local agencies. The BCS program achieves the overall greenhouse gas emissions reductions and extends the service life of the structure by delaying major reconstruction work. By preventing critical damage to bridges, the use of construction materials, demolition in environmentally sensitive areas, and construction detours in high volume traffic streets can be prevented or delayed.
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