Code of Federal Regulations

Title 23: Highways
PART 650—BRIDGES, STRUCTURES, AND HYDRAULICS

Subpart D—Highway Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program

Source:   44 FR 15665, Mar. 15, 1979, unless otherwise noted.

§ 650.401   Purpose.

The purpose of this regulation is to prescribe policies and outline procedures for administering the Highway Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program in accordance with 23 U.S.C. 144.

§ 650.403   Definition of terms.

As used in this regulation:

(a) Bridge. A structure, including supports, erected over a depression or an obstruction, such as water, a highway, or a railway, having a track or passageway for carrying traffic or other moving loads, and having an opening measured along the center of the roadway of more than 20 feet between undercopings of abutments or spring lines of arches, or extreme ends of the openings for multiple boxes; it may include multiple pipes where the clear distance between openings is less than half of the smaller contiguous opening.

(b) Sufficiency rating. The numerical rating of a bridge based on its structural adequacy and safety, essentiality for public use, and its serviceability and functional obsolescence.

(c) Rehabilitation. The major work required to restore the structural integrity of a bridge as well as work necessary to correct major safety defects.

§ 650.405   Eligible projects.

(a) General. Deficient highway bridges on all public roads may be eligible for replacement or rehabilitation.

(b) Types of projects which are eligible. The following types of work are eligible for participation in the Highway Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program (HBRRP), hereinafter known as the bridge program.

(1) Replacement. Total replacement of a structurally deficient or functionally obsolete bridge with a new facility constructed in the same general traffic corridor. A nominal amount of approach work, sufficient to connect the new facility to the existing roadway or to return the gradeline to an attainable touchdown point in accordance with good design practice is also eligible. The replacement structure must meet the current geometric, construction and structural standards required for the types and volume of projected traffic on the facility over its design life.

(2) Rehabilitation. The project requirements necessary to perform the major work required to restore the structural integrity of a bridge as well as work necessary to correct major safety defects are eligible except as noted under ineligible work. Bridges to be rehabilitated both on or off the F-A System shall, as a minimum, conform with the provisions of 23 CFR part 625, Design Standards for Federal-aid Highways, for the class of highway on which the bridge is a part.

(c) Ineligible work. Except as otherwise prescribed by the Administrator, the costs of long approach fills, causeways, connecting roadways, interchanges, ramps, and other extensive earth structures, when constructed beyond the attainable touchdown point, are not eligible under the bridge program.

§ 650.407   Application for bridge replacement or rehabilitation.

(a) Agencies participate in the bridge program by conducting bridge inspections and submitting Structure Inventory and Appraisal (SI&A) sheet inspection data. Federal and local governments supply SI&A sheet data to the State agency for review and processing. The State is responsible for submitting the six computer card format or tapes containing all public road SI&A sheet bridge information through the Division Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for processing. These requirements are prescribed in 23 CFR 650.309 and 650.311, the National Bridge Inspection Standards.

(b) Inventory data may be submitted as available and shall be submitted at such additional times as the FHWA may request.

(c) Inventory data on bridges that have been strengthened or repaired to eliminate deficiencies, or those that have been replaced or rehabilitated using bridge replacement and/or other funds, must be revised in the inventory through data submission.

(d) The Secretary may, at the request of a State, inventory bridges, on and off the Federal-aid system, for historic significance.

[44 FR 15665, Mar. 15, 1979, as amended at 44 FR 72112, Dec. 13, 1979]

§ 650.409   Evaluation of bridge inventory.

(a) Sufficiency rating of bridges. Upon receipt and evaluation of the bridge inventory, a sufficiency rating will be assigned to each bridge by the Secretary in accordance with the approved AASHTO 1 sufficiency rating formula. The sufficiency rating will be used as a basis for establishing eligibility and priority for replacement or rehabilitation of bridges; in general the lower the rating, the higher the priority.

1 American Association of State Highway and Transporation Officials, Suite 225, 444 North Capitol Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001.

(b) Selection of bridges for inclusion in State program. After evaluation of the inventory and assignment of sufficiency ratings, the Secretary will provide the State with a selection list of bridges within the State that are eligible for the bridge program. From that list or from previously furnished selection lists, the State may select bridge projects.

§ 650.411   Procedures for bridge replacement and rehabilitation projects.

(a) Consideration shall be given to projects which will remove from service highway bridges most in danger of failure.

(b) Submission and approval of projects. (1) Bridge replacement or rehabilitation projects shall be submitted by the State to the Secretary in accordance with 23 CFR part 630, subpart A Federal-Aid Programs, Approval and Authorization.

(2) Funds apportioned to a State shall be made available throughout each State on a fair and equitable basis.

(c)(1) Each approved project will be designed, constructed, and inspected for acceptance in the same manner as other projects on the system on which the project is located. It shall be the responsibility of the State agency to properly maintain, or cause to be properly maintained, any project constructed under this bridge program. The State highway agency shall enter into a formal agreement for maintenance with appropriate local government officials in cases where an eligible project is located within and is under the legal authority of such a local government.

(2) Whenever a deficient bridge is replaced or its deficiency alleviated by a new bridge under the bridge program, the deficient bridge shall either be dismantled or demolished or its use limited to the type and volume of traffic the structure can safely service over its remaining life. For example, if the only deficiency of the existing structure is inadequate roadway width and the combination of the new and existing structure can be made to meet current standards for the volume of traffic the facility will carry over its design life, the existing bridge may remain in place and be incorporated into the system.

[44 FR 15665, Mar. 15, 1979, as amended at 44 FR 72112, Dec. 13, 1979]

§ 650.413   Funding.

(a) Funds authorized for carrying out the Highway Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program are available for obligation at the beginning of the fiscal year for which authorized and remain available for expenditure for the same period as funds apportioned for projects on the Federal-aid primary system.

(b) The Federal share payable on account of any project carried out under 23 U.S.C. 144 shall be 80 percent of the eligible cost.

(c) Not less than 15 percent nor more than 35 percent of the apportioned funds shall be expended for projects located on public roads, other than those on a Federal-aid system. The Secretary after consultation with State and local officials may, with respect to a State, reduce the requirement for expenditure for bridges not on a Federal-aid system when he determines that such State has inadequate needs to justify such expenditure.

§ 650.415   Reports.

The Secretary must report annually to the Congress on projects approved and current inventories together with recommendations for further improvements.



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