Quick Flood Info
What is Bridge Scour?
Some bridges are vulnerable to damage and failure during flooding. Scour may undermine bridge foundations or remove the protection from the abutment slopes. To protect the public, bridges determined to be scour critical should be monitored during flooding. Monitoring generally requires measuring the riverbed elevation at the bridge, which may indicate one of the following:
- The bridge should be closed
- Corrective action should be taken immediately (i.e. remove debris)
- Protection should be installed as soon as practical
Scour Resources
- Bridge scour evaluation procedure
- Bridge scour code definitions
- Bridge scour plan of action templates - for local bridges
- Bridge Office flood response plan (PDF)
- Water alert signup - for high water emails from USGS
- NEW Bridge Cross Section Tools (Jan. 2012)
- Single Span Monitoring Form (.doc)
- Double Span Monitoring Form (.doc)
- 3-Span Monitoring Form (.doc) and Sample 3-Span Monitoring Form (.pdf)
- Bridge Cross Section Spreadsheet (.xlsm)

