ALDOT's Bridge Information Reports on the Whatley Bridge (BIN-542) and the Mentone Bridge (BIN-543) both reflect a downgrading of Item-60-Substructure to 5 (fair).  This single change reduces a Bridge Sufficiency Rating by 10%, according to the Recording and Coding Guide for the Structure Inventory and Appraisal of the Nation's Bridges.

The Bridge Sufficiency Ratings prior to the downgrade were greater than 50%.  After the downgrade, they were less than 50%, resulting in eligibility for replacement funding under the following Federal Highway Administration Policy:

2 b. Federal regulations originating in Section 123(e) of the 1987 STURAA, also permits States to carry out bridge improvements on non-controversial off-system bridges (on local roads and rural minor collectors) without Federal funding, and then apply 80 percent of the cost of such projects as credit toward the non-Federal share of other HBRRP projects. The FHWA has developed basic national guidelines for uniform administering those projects and the guidelines are:

(1) The bridges meet the normal current eligibility requirements for HBRRP funding. (They must be both deficient and have a sufficiency rating of 80 or less to be eligible for rehabilitation or a sufficiency rating of less than 50 to be eligible for replacement).

(2) They must be noncontroversial.

(3) Projects must be carried out in accordance with standards which are certified by the State and accepted by the FHWA as meeting all standards applicable to other bridge projects funded under 23 U.S.C. 144.

(4) The resulting improved bridges must not be deficient.

(5) Construction costs are the only expenditures eligible for credit.

(6) Only a minimal amount of approach work is to be applied as a credit.

(7) Credits for future matching of HBRRP will not be made for these bridge projects until the project is complete, inventoried, inspected and the resulting data entered into the State's bridge inventory file.

The Sufficiency Rating for the Whatley Bridge was decreased from 57.3 to 46.8 and the rating for the Mentone Bridge was decreased from 52.8 to 43.8 as a result of the extraordinary bridge inspections on August 4th, 2004.  A comparison of items in the current Bridge Information Report on the Whatley Bridge (BIN-542) with the corresponding items in the current report on the Mentone Bridge (BIN-543) shows that the differences between the individual items do not correlate with the differences between ALDOT's calculations of the Bridge Sufficiency Ratings for the two bridges.

Back to Bridge Funding Page

Copyright © 2008 Skye Enterprises.  All rights reserved.