Bridge Scour

The most common cause of bridge failure is scour, when high-velocity streamflow scours streambed material from around bridge piers and abutments. As of 2017, the National Bridge Inventory listed 265 of Idaho's nearly 4,500 bridges (about 6 percent) as "scour critical." When rivers rise quickly, bridge inspectors have little or no time to mobilize and monitor bridges at risk of scour. Real-time...