Bridge Inspection – What is it and why is it important?

Montana Department of Transportation performs regular condition inspections of all in-service publicly owned bridges in accordance with the National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS). All inspections are entered into Montana’s Bridge Structure Management System. Bridge inspection provides information about a specific bridge’s condition which plays a key role in the Bridge Bureau's mission to maintain a safe, resilient, economical, and reliable transportation system. This information, provided in a standardized and organized report, is used for several purposes:

• To protect safety of the traveling public by identifying bridges that need repair
• Track and report system-wide conditions
• Perform analysis that supports bridge funding decisions
• To satisfy federal requirements that all bridges in the National Bridge Inventory (NBI) must be inspected on a regular basis.