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Bridge Rating Practices and Policies for Overweight Vehicles (2006) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 15-19

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From page 15...
... Therefore, when a vehicle exceeds the legal weight limit of the jurisdiction and needs a permit to operate, load ratings of the bridges the permit vehicle planned to cross are often used for examination. Because load rating uses standard vehicle loads, such as the AASHTO HS and the H loads, the load rating results are directly useful only when the permit vehicle's configuration is close to the standard load used.
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From page 16...
... Also, many fewer bridges have electronic models available for repeating and updating load rating. Tables C4-2A and C4-2B show the responses of the agencies to the question of who provides the service of rating (i.e., bridge evaluation)
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From page 17...
... is using the LRFR specifications, most states use LFR, and many use both the Allowable Stress Rating and LFR. As to which load rating level is used, it can be seen almost uniformly that the operating level is used for permit review.
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From page 18...
... The most commonly used specifications for lateral load distribution factors by far is the AASHTO Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges (2002) , followed by the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications (2004)
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From page 19...
... However, it is known that not all local bridges are maintained to the same condition level as state-owned bridges, for a variety of reasons, including the demand on local bridges being relatively lower in terms of level of traffic, so that they do not have to be maintained to a higher standard and the resources available to local bridges are not as adequate. Table C4-11 shows the responses of the state-level agencies regarding load rating for local bridges.
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Key Terms

  • dead loads
  • permit vehicle
  • local bridges
  • load ratings
  • highway bridge

  • load rating
  • distribution factors
  • operating rating
  • aashto standard
  • overweight permits

  • permits issued
  • operating level
  • operating ratings
  • additional loads
  • bridge analysis

  • requiring bridge
  • distribution factor
  • axle weight
  • bridge load
  • load distribution

  • bridge design
  • local bridge
  • gage axles
  • girder line
  • rating level

  • permit review
  • overweight permit
  • dead load
  • standard specifications
  • limit states


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