Bridge Program

Welcome to the DelDOT Bridge Program homepage! Find out more about this program established to ensure DelDOT's bridges remain in a state of good repair.

Overview

DelDOT's Bridge Program is responsible for managing all bridges carrying a public roadway or crossing over a public roadway, which includes bridges carrying vehicles and/or bicycles and pedestrians. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) defines a bridge as "A structure including supports erected over a depression or an obstruction, such as water, highway, or railway, and having a track or passageway for carrying traffic or other moving loads, and having an opening measured along the center of the roadway of more than 20 feet between under copings of abutments or spring lines of arches, or extreme ends of openings for multiple boxes; it includes multiple pipes, where the clear distance between openings is less than half of the smaller contiguous opening" (23 CFR §650.305). DelDOT is responsible for ensuring bridge inspections and reporting are performed in accordance with federal regulations regardless of the owner (private, municipalities, Army Corps of Engineers, and Delaware River & Bay Authority).

DelDOT also oversees smaller bridges on DelDOT-owned roads that meet the following definition: "a structure, including supports, erected over a depression or an obstruction, such as water, highway, or railway; having a track or passageway for carrying traffic or other moving loads; having an opening of 20 square feet or greater; and having a minimum vertical opening of 4 feet." These structures may include single or multi cell pipes and culverts. DelDOT manages nearly 1800 bridges that meet one or both of the above definitions.

Organization

DelDOT's Bridge Program consists of three groups – Bridge Management, Bridge Design, and Bridge Maintenance and Construction. The Bridge Management (BM) group is responsible for inspections, load ratings and analyses, permits, and asset management. BM is responsible for the required reporting to FHWA and developing the annual work program to be carried out by the other two groups.

The Bridge Design (BD) group is responsible for performing the design for capital bridge replacement and major rehabilitation projects. The design phase includes all engineering, utility coordination, environmental coordination and permitting, right-of-way and easement acquisitions, public outreach, and any other coordination needed for the construction phase. During construction, BD provides support to the contractor building the project and the construction section administering the contract. In addition, BD reviews structural designs of bridges incorporated into other major capital projects, such as interchanges and corridor projects, as well as bridges incorporated into municipality or developer projects.

The Bridge Maintenance and Construction (BMC) group is responsible for developing and coordinating maintenance and minor rehabilitation projects and providing construction support during critical bridge construction activities. BMC develops contracts for preventative maintenance contracts, such as bridge painting, pile jacketing, and deck sealing, as well as work orders to be carried out by DelDOT's four maintenance districts and their open-end (IDIQ) structure maintenance contracts. BMC was organized in 2022 and is still developing its full scope and needed personnel.