Abstract Manager

With Canada’s aging infrastructure, rising interest rates and rising cost of materials, asset management is at the forefront of transportation agencies across Canada. Owners of water and transportation culvert crossings are faced with decisions to rehabilitate the structure, remove and replace or keep as-is.  An integral part of the assessment of the existing crossing is load rating or evaluation of the structure. The Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code CSA S-6-19 excluded culverts and buried bridges from the evaluation section that outlines the detailed design process for load rating of existing structures. In the upcoming CSA S6-25 version, evaluation of culverts and buried bridges is addressed with additional special provisions that guides the designer/evaluator to determine the target reliability index for the ultimate limit states and determine the load rating of the structure. Further, provisions on rehabilitation of buried structures will be included in the CSA S6-25. In this paper, the updated provisions will be discussed and a practical design example for load rating of culverts and buried structures will be presented.