Prioritization of a Bridge Inventory for Historic Preservation: A Case Study for Tarrant County, Texas

Abstract

Funding is currently limited for transportation projects in general and even more so for historic bridge preservation. Because of this limitation on resources, it is important that bridge-owning agencies use proper planning and management strategies to make the best use of available funding. One important element of bridge inventory management is the prioritization of bridges for historic preservation. This article presents a framework that begins with a selection matrix for a first-level review of a bridge inventory. The selection matrix considers both the National Bridge Inventory (NBI) historical significance rating and sufficiency rating. Further refinements are necessary to prioritize a number of bridges for historic preservation, and so a quantitative rating system is proposed to reflect the characteristics of the Tarrant County, Texas, bridge inventory considered in this study. The developed methodology is applied to the bridge inventory in Tarrant County, and two notable bridges are described.