Bridge Capacity System

About the Program

Category: Transportation (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

In 2011, in collaboration with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works (DPW) assumed a leadership role in developing a user-friendly software 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 the impact of overweight vehicles on bridges, resulting in high-risk and accelerated degradation of local bridges. Caltrans, FHWA, and DPW recognized a large-scale unmet need for a streamlined review process through a web-based system that facilitates local regulatory agencies to comply with OOT Permit requirements. DPW created a pilot web-based software that verifies inputted weight of permit vehicles against the load carrying capacity of all bridges on a route. Once complete, the system will include bridges throughout 58 counties and 482 municipalities within the State of California to be used by all permit-issuing local agencies to accurately monitor degradation from overweight vehicles and program appropriate mitigation and funding needs.