FHWA Bridge Maintenance Manual—Decks

Mark P. Rossow, PhD, PE Retired

Course Outline

This five-hour online course discusses maintenance procedures for concrete, steel, and wood decks. Procedures to prolong deck life, such as cleaning, sealing, overlaying, patching and moisture control are described.  Upgrading and replacing decks is also discussed, as is the maintenance and repair of railings, and cleaning and repair of deck drains and joints.

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will:

• Be familiar with concrete deck sealing and patching;
• Be cognizant of epoxy deck, asphalt concrete, and emergency full-depth patching;
• Understand principles of concrete crack sealing;
• Know overlays;
• Know timber deck moisture control, sealants and fumigants;
• Be familiar with nail-laminated decks maintenance and repair;
• Know steel grid decks cleaning;
• Understand principles of repairing broken welds;
• Know methods for improving skid resistance;
• Be familiar with concrete fill in steel grid decks;
• Be familiar with exothermic decks maintenance and repair;
• Be cognizant of joint types, functions, classification, and specific problems;
• Know the impact of poor joint maintenance;
• Be familiar with upgrading joints;
• Understand principles of concrete railing maintenance and repair;
• Understand principles of steel pipe railing maintenance and repair;
• Understand principles of aluminum railing maintenance and repair;
• Know the character of debris, cleaning methods and typical problems in cleaning deck drains and installing pipe drains; and
• Be cognizant of replacement of concrete, timber, and steel grid decks.

Intended Audience

This course is intended primarily for civil, construction, and structural engineers, and would be of particular interest to consulting engineers or to engineers serving in government organizations concerned with the maintenance of bridges.

Benefit to Attendees

An attendee of this course will be familiar with and able to apply procedures for concrete, steel, and timber deck maintenance.

Course Introduction

Bridge decks not only carry the traffic but also act as a shield to protect the rest of the structure. The deck is vulnerable to the effects of mechanical wear and weather. Consequently, decks may require more maintenance and repair than other bridge components.

Course Content

This course is based on Chapter X (Deck Maintenance Procedures) of the Federal Highway Administration Bridge Maintenance Training Reference Manual, Publication No. FHWA- NHI-03-045, March, 2003.

FHWA Bridge Maintenance Manual—Decks

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.

Course Summary

Various repair, updating, and replacement procedures are described that are useful in the maintenance of bridge decks.

Related Links

For additional technical information related to this subject, please visit the following websites or web pages:

http://www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov/training/course_detail.aspx?num=FHWA-NHI-134029&topicnum=134

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

---

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.

---