ABSTRACT
Bridge design, construction, maintenance and repair require critical decisions by managers because they deal with high investment costs and need to maintain mobility and safety of the transport system users. In order to optimize resources and define the priority areas of action managers need data provided by bridge inspections.
Bridges inspections need to be carried out by trained professionals. The quality and standardization of inspections is crucial so that the results are accurate. The Brazilian main references to accomplish inspections are the standard “NBR 9452”, the Standard DNIT 10/2004 and Bridges Inspection Manual Road/DNIT (ABNT, 2012; DNIT, 2004; Brazil, 2004).
The Bridges Inspection Manual Road/DNIT (BIM/DNIT) has two main goals. Initially aims to serve as a training tool for engineers and technicians to perform registration and routine bridge inspections. Also aims to set a standard for uniform procedures and practices. The first BIM/DNIT was published in 1980, was a pioneer and considered of high technical value. It had as main reference the Bridge Inspector Training Manual/70 (FHWA, 1979). The next and actual edition of BIM/DNIT, published in 2004, follows the bibliography of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), especially the Bridge Inspector Training Manual/90 (FHWA, 1995).
The BIM/DNIT was published over ten years and during this period new content could be incorporated into the manual. During this period the Bridge Inspector’s Training Manual/90 was replaced by the Bridge Inspector’s Reference Manual (BIRM), a revised and updated version that presents the best bridge inspection techniques, including state of the art related to inspection equipment (FHWA, 2012).
This article seeks to identify opportunities for improvement in the inspection of bridges in Brazil by assessing the BIM/DNIT (Brazil, 2004) regarding (i) the topics covered, (ii) the access to the digital document content, (iii) the frequency of revisions it received and (iv) its role in bridge management. The evaluation takes as a parameter nine documents from four countries and specially the main references adopted for the development of BIM/DNIT.
The evaluation of the manuals made possible to identify space for improvement to the BIM/DNIT. Opportunities related to the manual content, easy access through digital document and the development of a field manual were observed.
The BIM/DNIT was published in 2004. In general this type of document must be revised periodically to reflect updated Standards, and also new materials, designs and technology. If the BIM/DNIT is the document to be used in the inspectors training and aim to set a uniform standard procedure the opportunity for renewal is timely. In addition the development of a field manual should be taken into consideration as a possible advance to quality and standard for bridge inspections in Brazil.
