Fall 2026 · Orientation
Course Orientation — Bridge Engineering & Design — AASHTO LRFD
Aug 26, 2026 – Dec 3, 2026
14-week visual roadmap
Currently Week 3Figure 1 — CEGR 628 14-week roadmap: weekly checkpoints with milestone reviews at Weeks 4, 8, 12 and the Week 14 capstone.
Week 1
Aug 27, 2026
Introduction to Bridge Engineering — anatomy, systems, lifecycle
Course orientation; no quiz or homework this week
Week 2
Sep 3, 2026
LRFD Philosophy, Reliability, and Limit States
Chapter 2 quiz + guided practice
Week 3
Sep 10, 2026
Bridge Loads and Load Combinations (HL-93)
Chapter 3 quiz + HL-93 practice set
Week 4
Sep 17, 2026
Structural Analysis for Bridges — distribution factors, influence lines
Chapter 4 quiz · Milestone review 1
Week 5
Sep 24, 2026
Deck Design and Detailing
Chapter 5 quiz + deck design challenge
Week 6
Oct 1, 2026
Reinforced Concrete Superstructure — flexure, shear, torsion
Chapter 6 quiz
Week 7
Oct 8, 2026
Prestressed Concrete Girders
Chapter 7 quiz + Design Example 6
Week 8
Oct 15, 2026
Composite Steel Girder Design
Chapter 8 quiz · Milestone review 2
Week 9
Oct 22, 2026
Piers, Columns, and Bents
Chapter 9 quiz + interaction diagram set
Week 10
Oct 29, 2026
Abutments, Wingwalls, and Earth Pressure
Chapter 10 quiz
Week 11
Nov 5, 2026
Bearings, Joints, and Connections
Chapter 11 quiz + bearing selection challenge
Week 12
Nov 12, 2026
Foundations — spread footings, driven piles, drilled shafts
Chapter 13 quiz · Milestone review 3
Week 13
Nov 19, 2026
Hydraulics, Scour, Seismic, and Extreme Events
Chapters 14–16 quizzes
Week 14
Dec 3, 2026
Capstone bridge design presentations and PE-style exam review
Capstone submission + 15-item PE quiz
Why this course exists
CEGR 628 teaches you to take a real crossing — a span over a river, a rail line, or an interstate — and carry it from site constraints and load definition through member design, detailing, and constructability review, exactly the way a practicing bridge engineer does: specification in hand, calculations shown, decisions justified.
- Frame a complex bridge design problem and defend the structural system you select.
- Synthesize AASHTO LRFD provisions, state DOT criteria, and literature into a design basis.
- Design members that are traceable from every load effect to a governing limit state.
- Communicate the work in a calculation package, dimensioned drawings, and an oral design review.
What success looks like
• Every capacity check names its AASHTO article and edition.
• Every number has a source — no unattributed values.
• Every load effect is traced to a load combination.
• The design is constructible and inspectable, not just adequate on paper.