REVISIONS TO THE AASHTO MANUAL FOR MAINTENANCE INSPECTION OF BRIDGES

The present AASHTO Manual was initially adopted in 1970 and was intended as an engineering guide to bridge owners to inspect and evaluate highway bridges as required by Congressional standards. Since then advances in technologies and research have resulted in many innovations, improvements and changes in the state of the art of bridge inspection and evaluation. This paper discusses the plan to update and modernize the present Manual to reflect the latest advances in inspection methods, tools, and rating systems.