Bridge Engineering & Design — AASHTO LRFD

Email is answered within one business day. Questions about a specific calculation are best brought to office hours with your work in hand.

Every student must have access to the specification by the end of Week 1.

AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications, 10th Edition (2024)

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials

Required. Every worked example, quiz question, and design deliverable in this course cites the 10th Edition by article number. Students must have access by the end of Week 1.

Recommended supplements

• AASHTO Manual for Bridge Evaluation, 3rd Edition (load rating)
• AASHTO Guide Specifications for LRFD Seismic Bridge Design, 2nd Edition
• PCI Bridge Design Manual, 4th Edition (prestressed girders)
• FHWA Steel Bridge Design Handbook (2022 update)

• Chapter quizzes (PE-difficulty, best of two attempts)25%
• Guided practice10%
• Independent practice sets10%
• Design challenges (uploaded drawings & calculations)20%
• Capstone bridge design project20%
• PE-style comprehensive quiz10%
• Participation and reflection prompts5%
• Total100%

Letter grades: A ≥ 90, B ≥ 80, C ≥ 70, D ≥ 60, F below 60. The instructor may exempt specific chapter activities from grading; exempted items are marked in your gradebook and excluded from the weighted total.

• Apply AASHTO LRFD 10th Edition provisions to superstructure and substructure design.
• Develop HL-93 live-load effects with dynamic allowance and multiple presence.
• Select governing load combinations and justify the controlling limit state.
• Interpret design aids and verify tabulated results with first-principles calculations.
• Communicate decisions with clear calculations, sketches, units, and code citations.
• Work on a team to deliver a constructible, inspectable bridge design.

• Attendance: class meets once weekly; more than two absences requires a written plan with the instructor.
• Late work: 10% per day up to three days, then no credit unless arranged in advance.
• Quiz attempts: two attempts per chapter quiz; the higher score is recorded.
• Collaboration: discuss methods freely; submitted calculations and drawings must be your own.
• AI tools: permitted for concept explanation, not for generating submitted calculations. Cite any tool used.

• Fabricated numbers or uncited sources in a calculation package are treated as an integrity violation — the same standard the profession applies to a sealed drawing.
• Students needing accommodations should contact Student Disability Services in Week 1; approved accommodations apply to all timed assessments.
• Failure case studies in this course include fatalities. They are presented as professional-responsibility material; let the instructor know if you need to step out.