In May 2022, the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a major update to the national bridge inspection standards, titled the Specifications for a National Bridge Inventory (SNBI). The 354-page document provides the specifications for reporting data for bridges in the National Bridge Inventory database, which enables state-level and national-level analyses and reporting, supports federal funding programs, and facilitates the identification of freight and defense-critical corridors and connectors.
Among the many changes, one carries with it a significant financial impact to Washington’s counties and cities. Section 5 of the SNBI relates to how the vehicular load a bridge can safely carry without structural damage or failure is evaluated, rated and communicated to road users. Previously, bridges were required to be load rated using configurations established by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
With the latest SNBI update, bridges are now required to ALSO be evaluated and load rated for all legal load configurations established by an individual state in addition to AASHTO. In Washington State, the legal load configurations are codified in RCW 46.44.041; and currently allow trucks to operate on Washington roads while weighing up to 105,500 pounds. Because this legal weight and axle configuration is specific to our state, the FHWA is now mandating that ALL publicly owned bridges in Washington carrying vehicles be load rated for the 105,500 load.
Completing a bridge load rating usually involves a detailed report documenting the rating and any necessary weight restrictions based on their findings; depending on the complexity of the bridge, this can be a relatively simple exercise or a very complex one. The process requires a licensed structural engineer to thoroughly inspect the bridge to assess its condition, analyze its structural design using specialized software, apply load models based on traffic conditions and relevant design standards, calculate stress on critical components, compare those stresses to allowable capacities to determine its maximum safe load considering factors such as deterioration, damage, and changes in design or loading conditions.
These new load ratings must be completed and reported to FHWA no later than March 2028. To meet the due date, WSDOT is requiring that counties and cities complete the load ratings on their bridges by December 2027, an incredibly tight deadline for the workload and expenses involved. Most local agencies do not have the resources to perform load ratings internally and would require the services of a consulting firm. Working with a consultant can be a lengthy process and is highly dependent on the consulting community's capacity to take on this much additional work. This summer, WSDOT and FHWA agreed on a method to determine which bridges require the new load rating or if existing load ratings could demonstrate the bridge is capable of carrying the 105,500 load without restriction. Through this process, most local agency bridges will not require a new load rating, but a significant number will.
The current estimate is that 519 county and 122 city and town bridges will need to have the new load rating; a detailed list will be sent to the impacted cities and counties in late December.
We know the new bridge load rating requirements have put not only our counties, but our state, in a tough spot. While we could have a whole conversation about how we got here, the bottom line is that it is a problem and we need to focus our efforts on a low-cost, streamlined and rapid solution.
As it stands, tens of millions of federal dollars Washington State receives from FHWA for bridge rehabilitation and replacement are at risk. If a local agency is not in compliance with the new load rating requirements, that agency is not out of compliance - the entire State of Washington is out of compliance. This is not a WSDOT, CRAB, county, city or town issue, it is a Washington issue that we must work together to solve.
We believe we are an important partner in the solution, so we are doing what we can to help keep our entire state eligible for federal aid. When we were told of the new load rating requirement in September, we requested and received approval to submit a decision package to assist counties (and hopefully cities) with the unfunded mandate even though the deadline to submit such requests had passed. The one-time, $6.5 million budget request for a Bridge Load Rating Grant Program would allow counties and cities to hit the ground running on ratings with our agency leveraging our existing resources to efficiently manage oversight and reimbursements. The program will allow local agencies to perform the load ratings with existing staff or obtain consultant services and then submit reimbursement requests and supporting documentation. The goal will be to allow the local agencies as much control over the rating of their bridges as possible while keeping the reimbursement process as simple and streamlined as possible.
We operate our existing grant programs with a minimal 2.5% to 4% administrative overhead and, if the program is approved, could manage it with existing resources and no administrative costs charged to the program. We would coordinate closely with WSDOT Local Programs to ensure that all bridges needing the load rating are identified and all ratings are entered into the State's database for reporting to FHWA.
The just-released, proposed budget from the Governor's Office included $5 million for the load rating grant. However, it proposed the funds be taken from CRAB’s two primary grant programs, the Rural Arterial Program (RAP) and the County Arterial Preservation Program (CAPP). These two grant programs are already stretched thin by need three to four times higher than they can support and declining motor vehicle fuel tax revenues. Additionally, these funds can ONLY be used for county roads, prohibiting the program for assisting cities and towns.
We will continue to work with policy makers this legislative session to obtain funding for this important new grant program without impacting other critical programs.
