Tag: Bridge Failure

What Is Bridge Scour? Why Should You Care?

The most common cause of bridge failures is from floods scouring bed material surrounding bridge foundations. What is scour? Simply put, scour is the engineering term for the erosion of soil surrounding a bridge foundation (piers and abutments). Bridge scour occurs when fast-moving water around a bridge removes sediment from… Read More »

FHWA Videos Recommend Best Hydraulic Field Scoping Procedures

By Dusty Robinson, PE, Senior Project Manager When it comes to designing roadways and other transportation infrastructure, the structures themselves aren’t all that needs to be considered. Hydraulic design – or the impact water has on this infrastructure – is a critical consideration in transportation design. For example, the most common cause of bridge failures… Read More »

Understanding Highway Hydraulics Keeps Bridges, People Safe

By Pete Haug, PE One of the principles of engineering is that water always wins. Whether contained in a river or falling in a rainstorm, water finds a way to infiltrate basements, saturate soils – and undermine bridges. The most common cause of bridge failures is from floods scouring bed material surrounding bridge foundations. What… Read More »