Bridge Strike Prevention and Detection
As the number of large loads increases in South Dakota, the risk of collisions with bridges is also rising. Bridge strikes can lead to unexpected costs and safety hazards. The traveling public may experience significant consequences from these incidents, including fatal or severe injuries, detours and delays, and rerouting of heavy loads due to reduced structural capacity. To prevent bridge strikes, transportation agencies take measures ranging from passive signing of warnings or clearance heights and widths, to physical barriers placed prior to the bridge, to active warning systems that detect vehicle heights and widths, warn drivers via flashing beacons, digital message signs, or in-cab notifications, and alert the agency’s operations center. Other agencies have attempted to protect bridges with sacrificial energy-absorbing materials applied to the structure. The applicability and effectiveness of these measures depend on factors such as bridge characteristics, road geometry, sight distance, traffic volume, travel speed, bypass opportunity, and others. Detecting actual bridge strikes is essential to incident response, assessing structural damage, initiating repair, and identifying motor carriers financially responsible for damage. Some agencies have deployed systems that detect strikes, capture imagery of the vehicle involved, and transmit information to an operations center. Because the cost of installing, maintaining, and operating advanced bridge strike warning and detection systems preclude their use at every bridge, agencies must decide what measures are necessary and cost-effective at individual bridges. Based on the characteristics of the structure, the likelihood of a strike, the possible level of damage and impact on transportation due to a strike, and the expected effectiveness of the measures to be deployed. The findings of NCHRP Research 08-139, Guide for Preventing and Mitigating the Risk of Bridge and Tunnel Strikes by Motor Vehicles, will help guide this research for South Dakota. South Dakota also has oversized vehicle permit data available, which can be used to identify routes with the highest frequency of permitted oversized loads.
Language
- English
Project
- Status: Active
- Funding: $75,000.00
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Contract Numbers:
SD2024-08
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Sponsor Organizations:
South Dakota Department of Transportation
700 East Broadway Avenue
Pierre, SD United States 57501 -
Managing Organizations:
South Dakota Department of Transportation
700 East Broadway Avenue
Pierre, SD United States 57501 -
Project Managers:
Doorn, Danny
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Performing Organizations:
Center for Transportation Research and Education
2711 South Loop Drive, Suite 4700
Ames, IA United States 50010-8664 -
Principal Investigators:
Dahlberg, Justin
- Start Date: 20250916
- Expected Completion Date: 20270331
- Actual Completion Date: 0
- USDOT Program: Research and Development
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Bridges; Crashes; Oversize loads
- Geographic Terms: South Dakota
- Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01989890
- Record Type: Research project
- Source Agency: South Dakota Department of Transportation
- Contract Numbers: SD2024-08
- Files: RIP, STATEDOT
- Created Date: May 20 2026 11:37AM