Bridge Inspections and Ratings
Maryland State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA)
Statewide, Maryland

Marine Solutions has been providing bridge engineering services for multiple Maryland State Highway bridge inspection contracts for more than 10 years. Services include biennial bridge inspections, load ratings, underwater inspections, and post flood inspections. In 2019, Marine Solutions performed over 150 bridge inspections. We provided a National Highway Institute (NHI)-certified inspection team to complete the structural inspections including identifying fracture critical elements. Access to the bridges required ladders, johnboats, waders, snoopers, lift trucks, and maintenance of traffic. The inspections and load ratings included three historic truss bridges which required a special lightweight platform snooper or use of underdeck rigging to access the superstructure elements safely and within existing load postings. We also were performed load ratings for 20 bridges using the LARS computer program, in-house computer programs, hand calculations, and the as-inspection condition for the Maryland legal loads, permit vehicles, and requested special vehicles in accordance with the state’s requirements. In addition, we performed Level I and II underwater structural condition inspections on more than 50 bridges, and post-flood inspections for more than 30 structures, which included substructure observations, waterway soundings, and underwater inspections.