SECTION 730:10-3-7. Bridge weight posting; elimination of less than three (3) ton bridges; sanctions

(a)   Load posting requirements and procedures.

(1)   The Department shall furnish, on a quarterly basis, to consulting firms or other appropriate entities responsible for inspecting bridges, a list for review of bridges with missing or incorrect load limit signs. Subsequent to a review of this list it will be forwarded to the appropriate city or county official. Counties and cities shall survey those locations listed and correct the deficiencies.

(2)   Counties and cities shall replace missing signs within ninety (90) days after notification and shall certify to the Department, by resolution from a county or properly authorized certification signed by the chief executive officer of a municipality, that missing signs identified by the survey have been replaced.

(3)   Based on these resolutions, the database of the National Bridge Inventory will be revised by the Department to reflect updated sign posting data received from counties and cities before a computer tape is forwarded to Federal Highway Administration.

(4)   The Department, as directed by the Federal Highway Administration, shall withhold fund allocations for federal-aid projects from those local government jurisdictions that are not in compliance with federal load posting requirements.

(b)   Less than three (3) ton bridges.

(1)   A less than three (3) ton bridge Action Plan which is adopted by official resolution of each local government must be submitted to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation within thirty (30) days from the date the affected county or city is notified to accomplish closure of all public bridges with a rated load capacity of less than three (3) tons. Programming a bridge for replacement and leaving it open to traffic awaiting funding is not a satisfactory plan. The less than three (3) ton bridge Action Plan shall state when each bridge will be closed or present other acceptable actions to correct the deficient load capacity.

(2)   For the protection of the traveling public any bridge rated less than three (3) tons shall be closed within 30 days of notification. Such bridges must remain closed until strengthening, shoring, or repair can be engineered and completed to assure that the bridge can safely rate three (3) tons or greater. In situations where temporary measures are used to raise the capacity rating to three (3) tons or greater, more frequent inspections may be required on the bridge as part of the less than three (3) ton bridge Action Plan as determined by the inspecting engineer.

(3)   Where repair work is done on a bridge to raise the capacity to three (3) or more tons, a new rating shall be made by a Professional Engineer after an inspection which is performed subsequent to completion of the repair work. The new inspection forms and rating data shall be furnished to the Department which shall include the new data in the National Bridge Inventory computer file and remove the bridge from the list of bridges that must be closed.

(4)   A local government may remove a bridge with some length of adjoining roadway from the public road system where the road and bridge serve one or two property owners. The local government, at its discretion, may abandon the bridge where ownership would revert back to adjacent property owners. The road must be removed from the county road system and closed as a public road in accordance with applicable statutes. A copy of this removal action shall be provided to the Department which shall remove the bridge from the bridge inventory and from the list of bridges that must be closed.

(5)   The Department, as directed by the Federal Highway Administration, shall withhold federal fund allocations for projects within the jurisdiction of local governments which are not in compliance with federal bridge requirements. This withholding of federal fund allocations shall be effective immediately upon notification to the local government of their failure to submit an Action Plan which complies with all Federal Highway Administration mandates. The Department shall report any such sanction to the Transportation Commission at its next regular meeting.

[Source: Added at 11 Ok Reg 1895, eff 5-12-94; Amended at 17 Ok Reg 1368, eff 5-11-00]