From the day they enter service, bridges over rivers and streams are under attack from the powerful forces of moving water. Scouring action eats away at the riverbed sediments beneath piers and abutments, making them unstable. These changing forces impact structures in ways that were unforeseen when most of our nation’s over-water bridges were constructed. This is why an experienced team of structural, geotechnical, hydraulic and hydrologic engineers is required to fully quantify the potential risk to a bridge from scour.

CHA has inspected, evaluated, and assessed over 15,000 bridges for their vulnerability to scour. Additionally, CHA is one of only a few firms with experience using cost effective, efficient non-destructive testing methods to quantify these scour-critical bridges with unknown foundations. By using these techniques, we may be able to determine that some of your perceived scour-critical bridges are not actually scour critical and therefore not subject to FHWA requirements.

By combining proven engineering techniques with sound judgment and experience, we may be able to determine that some of your county’s perceived vulnerable bridges are actually non scour-critical. This would result in considerable savings and afford your staff the financial resources to focus on the most vulnerable structures.