Scour and stream stability problems at highway bridges in the United States

This paper provides an overview of the magnitude of the bridge scour problem in the United States using recent bridge failures to illustrate the problem Procedures and results from the ongoing national program to evaluate all bridges over water for scour vulnerability by January 1997 are highlighted. Current practices for analyzing bridge scour are reviewed and sources of technology transfer are referenced and highlighted, including training courses on bridge scour and stream stability. Instrumentation being developed in the U.S. to monitor scour at bridges is described.