- All information in this section is based upon best available information as of January, 2024 and is subject to change without notice
- Total bridge assets within the City are valued at over $1 billion in replacement value.
- Currently, the City spends over $1.5 million annually, to operate, inspect, and maintain the City bridge system
- Of the 40 vehicular bridges in the City's inventory;
o 55% (22 total) are considered to be in “Good” condition
o 38% (15 total) are considered to be in “FAIR” condition
o 8% (3 total) are considered to be in “POOR” condition
The terms GOOD / FAIR / POOR are non-technical terms that refer to the general state of a bridge. GOOD / FAIR / POOR are terms that are not used by engineers to determine or indicate the safety of a bridge. The overall safety, structural adequacy, load carrying capacity, and any other aspect of a bridge are determined by the inspection team and bridge engineer. Their analysis is based on data on the history of the structure and inspection information.
The GOOD / FAIR / POOR methodology is interpreted with the experience of the bridge engineer, and takes into account the history of the structure and inspection information.
- Approximately (56%) of the bridges in the system are over 50 years old (built prior to 1974).
- The average design life of a bridge is 75 years. Typically, with proper maintenance, bridges can have useful lives of 100 years or more.
- 6 bridges are load restricted for less than legal loads (commercial vehicles and trucks)
- 6 bridges are closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic: E. 11th Street (over the Puyallup River) and the Fishing Wars Memorial Corridor Bridges (Fishing Wars Memorial Bridges A through E)6 bridges are over water (3 over the Puyallup River, 1 over the Blair/Hylebos Waterway, and 1 over the Thea Foss Waterway). Note, this doesn’t account for short spans or bridges over seasonal water sources.
- 40 bridges span natural features such as valleys, roads, or railroads.
- 3 bridges are considered short spans, which are less than 20 feet in length, and are not reportable to the FHWA. These short spans are not owned or maintained by Public Works Engineering.
- 2 bridges are moveable bridges (Hylebos and Murray Morgan).
- 4 of the City’s bridges are historical and are on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
o Murray Morgan Bridge, built in 1911, over the Foss Waterway.
o E. 34th Street bridge, built in 1937, over Lister Gulch.
o N. 21st Street Bridge, built in 1910, over Buckley Gulch.
o N. 23rd Street Pedestrian Bridge, built in 1909, over Buckely Gulch.
Due to its inability to carry vehicular loads, this bridge was changed
to a pedestrian only bridge in the early 1990’s
The City of Tacoma owns, inspects, maintains, and operates 40 vehicular bridges and 5 pedestrian bridges.
Bridge Program work includes:
1. Bridge Inspection Program: Perform regularly scheduled in-service bridge inspections. This includes routine, underwater, and Non-redundant Steel Tension Members (NSTM) inspections. Performing scour evaluations for all bridges over water is an essential function of the program. The city maintains quality control and quality assurance procedures to maintain a high degree of accuracy and consistency within the inspection program.
The City is required to respond to and report significantly damaged bridges to the FHWA Washington division Bridge Engineer as well as WSDOT and take corrective action as needed.
Staff is required to maintain a bridge file for every bridge in the cities inventory which follows the Federal Coding Guide criteria and submit bridge inventory data to WSDOT and FHWA for incorporation into the National Bridge Inventory (NBI).
2. Bridge Load Rating Program: Managing the safe weight capacity of bridges is an important element to bridge safety. The City regularly analyzes the weight capacity of its bridges to meet State and Federal requirements.
3. Capital Improvement Program: Some bridges require major rehabilitation or replacement to ensure they remain safe and available to the traveling public. Capital projects often involve a multi-year planning, design, and engineering process.