Riverside County Bridge Program

County of Riverside owns and operates 108 bridges connecting the 2200 miles of County maintained road system. The bridges are an essential component of the lifelines for the residents of the County. The recent estimates for the replacement cost of Nation’s approximately 600,000 deteriorating bridges at a staggering 1 trillion dollars places a new emphasis on addressing the preservation and sustainability of the County’s aging bridges. In the current economic climate, it is more prudent for the County than ever to focus on the maintenance of the existing bridge inventory and extend the service life of the bridges through the implementation of a Bridge/Asset Management and Preventive Maintenance Program. It is critical to identify, pursue, and make optimum use of available federal funds particularly from Highway Bridge Program (HBP) to reduce the strain on local funding sources, which can be diverted then to the other much needed infrastructure projects. Also, located in the heart of seismically very active Southern California, the County must rapidly assess the condition of its bridges and roads for safety and functionality following a major seismic event. Timely response to quickly restore transportation routes is critical to public safety, emergency vehicle access, and the overall economy of the area. County Bridge Program provides for a systematic and uniform approach to develop bridge projects, to perform post-earthquake bridge inspections, and most importantly to sustain the existing bridge inventory by: • Implementing a Bridge/Asset Management Program for maintaining and sustaining existing bridges on County maintained roads. • Developing a GIS based mapping of County bridges overlaying a comprehensive bridge database linking as-built plans, inspection reports, bridge maintenance recommendations as well as providing permit load restrictions, and storing other pertinent bridge data for quick and easy access. • Updating, maintaining, and enforcing the County Bridge Design Criteria, Electronic Procedures, and Structural Detailing Standards as it supplements the guidelines and procedures by the State Department of Transportation (CALTRANS) for bridge design, inspection, and maintenance in the State of California. • Conducting a Type Selection Process for every bridge proposed on County maintained roadway system; reviewing bridge planning studies as well as all progress submittals for bridge Plans, Specifications, and Estimates (PS&E) prepared as part of various Development and Capital Improvement projects for compliance with guidelines, constructability, and Quality Assurance. • Developing and implementing the guidelines, office and field procedures for earthquake preparedness to inspect, and when necessary, to restore the transportation network within the County jurisdiction back to operation following significant seismic events.