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Local Highway Bridge Program (HBP)

HBP Site Index:

  1. Overview
  2. Programming Process
  3. What do SD, FO, SR, and EBL mean?
  4. Eligible Bridge List (EBL)
  5. Proposed FSTIP Listings
  6. Reports
  7. Federal Project Prefixes
  8. Seismic Retrofit Web Site
  9. Forms
  10. References
  11. Help
 

Bridge Preventive Maintenance Guidelines:

 

Overview:

The Highway Bridge Program (HBP) is authorized by the federal Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA21).

The purpose of the Program is to replace or rehabilitate public highway bridges over waterways, other topographical barriers, other highways, or railroads when the State and the Federal Highway Administration determine that a bridge is significantly important and is unsafe because of structural deficiencies, physical deterioration, or functional obsolescence.

Reimbursable scopes of work include replacement, rehabilitation, painting, scour countermeasure, bridge approach barrier and railing replacement, low water crossing replacement, and ferry service replacement.

About $240 million of federal funds are made available to local agencies annually. The federal reimbursement rate is 88.53% of the eligible participating project costs including preliminary engineering, right of way, and construction costs.

See the Caltrans Local Seismic web site for information about the seismic program and project listings.

Programming Process:

Please refer to Chapter 6 of Local Assistance Program Guidelines. The program guidelines provide the application forms and also define detail eligible scopes of work and eligibility requirements. Caltrans evaluates the candidate projects for eligibility requirements and includes the successful candidate projects in the HB program.

Once the projects are accepted into the HB program and incorporated into the FTIP/FSTIP, local agencies must request authorization to proceed according to the Local Assistance Procedures Manual to be eligible for reimbursement.

What do SD, FO, SR, and EBL mean?

Local agencies that are planning to use HBP funds must have a clear understanding of these terms. FHWA uses the Sufficiency Rating (SR) and a status flag indicating whether a bridge is Structurally Deficient (SD) or Functionally Obsolete (FO) to establish eligibility for HBP funds. Instructions to calculate the SR can be found in Appendix B of the National Bridge Inventory Coding Guide. To determine whether a bridge is SD or FO see item 9 of the Federal - Aid Policy Guide for Title 23, CFR 650.

The variables in the equations for SR, SD, and FO come from the Bridge Inspection Report that either Caltrans - Office of Structure Maintenance & Investigations (OSM&I) or a local agency prepares for each publicly owned highway/local street bridge in the State of California. In order to receive HBP funds, the State (or the local agency) is required to perform these inspections. When a Bridge Inspection Report (BIR) is completed, the Director of Public Works is mailed a copy. Each report includes the SR, SD, FO and other data. Copies of the reports can be obtained by contacting the District Local Assistance Engineer.

Bridges that are SD or FO and the SR<=80 are considered deficient by FHWA and are compiled into an "Eligible Bridge List" (EBL). This list is used to calculate the State's annual HBP apportionment and for determining eligibility for traditional replacement and rehabilitation projects.

Eligible Bridge Lists (used for programming new bridge projects):

The bridge lists that contain the Sufficiency rating and the SD/FO flag may be accessed from the Caltrans Structure Maintenance and Investigations web site.

Structures Maintenance and Investigations (OSMI) site includes SD/FO, SR, and data used to calculate the SR. This site also includes, among other useful information, a list of Caltrans area bridge maintenance engineers and phone numbers for local agencies to contact.

Project Prefixes:

A typical (barrier rail) project number could be STPLX-5151(001). The "STPLX" is the project prefix. There have been minor changes to the prefixes previously published. The latest prefixes and the corresponding federal reimbursement rates can be found in prefix.pdf. This file is a revised EXHIBIT 3-I from the Local Assistance Procedures Manual. For HB programmed projects using STP, please use the pseudo code directory for the correct coding on the State-Local Agency Program Supplemental Agreement.

Forms:

NOTE: For instructions on using these forms,
see the HB program Guidelines.

References:

  1. HB Program Guidelines (Chapter 06 of the Local Assistance Program Guidelines Manual
  2. Bridge Preventive Maintenance Program Guidelines for Local Agencies
  3. Local Assistance Procedures Manual
  4. New LRFD Specification Notice
  5. Local Assistance Program Guidelines Manual
  6. Title 23
  7. Title 23, Code of Federal Regulations
  8. FHWA Policy Guidelines
  9. Structures Maintenance and Investigations
  10. National Bridge Inventory Coding Guide
  11. Element Level Inspection Manual
  12. Eligible Bridge List
  13. Caltrans Local Seismic Web Site
  14. Comparative Bridge Costs
  15. Structure Related Design Information
  16. Federal project prefixes
  17. Pseudo Code Directory
  18. FHWA site for crash tested roadside barriers, including bridge railings (NCHRP Report 350 Hardware).

Help:

 If you have any questions regarding the HBP, please contact your District Local Assistance Engineer.

 If you have any problems downloading files or other questions, please e-mail Local.Programs@dot.ca.gov or see the Local Programs Help Page.