Bridge scour countermeasure assessments at select bridges in the United States, 2016–18

In 2009, the Federal Highway Administration published Hydraulic Engineering Circular No. 23 (HEC-23) to provide specific design and implementation guidelines for bridge scour and stream instability countermeasures. However, the effectiveness of countermeasures implemented over the past decade following those guidelines has not been evaluated. Therefore, in 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, began a study to assess the current condition of bridge-scour countermeasures at selected sites to evaluate their effectiveness. Bridge-scour countermeasures were assessed during 2016–2018 after additional sites were added following a similar study. Site assessments included reviewing countermeasure design plans, summarizing the peak and daily streamflow history, and assessments at each site. Each site survey included a photo log summary, field form, and topographic and bathymetric geospatial data and metadata. This report documents the study area and site-selection criteria, explains the survey methods used to evaluate the condition of countermeasures, and presents the complete documentation for each countermeasure assessment.