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Local Scour Critical Bridges

Under the 2005 National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS), bridge owners are required to develop Plans of Action (POA) for scour critical bridges and monitor those bridges. The Scour POA serves two purposes:

  1. Establishes a systematic process of monitoring and closing bridges to ensure public safety during a significant flood event and criteria for inspection and re-opening after a flood event.
  2. Assists bridge owners to program and prioritize the installation of scour countermeasures to protect scour critical bridges from flood damage.

Monitoring scour critical bridges during flood events and regularly inspecting bridges with span lengths greater than 20 feet are required by the NBIS as part of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The website described below and the information on this page are provided to assist PA local bridge owners comply with the NBIS.

PennDOT MAP Website

The PennDOT Local Scour Critical Bridge Website shows all local scour critical bridges throughout the state using Geographic Information Systems mapping. The application has specific symbols to differentiate between county and municipal bridges as well as a letter designation to identify the bridge's scour critical bridge category (A, B or C). A pop-up dialog box containing additional information, including scour critical bridge monitoring logs, can be accessed for each bridge by clicking on the map symbols.

Helpful Documents

Frequently Asked Questions

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911 and County Coordinators

Municipalities should pre-plan bridge closure notification procedures in their counties to provide bridge closure information to emergency service first responders.