State-SpecificOnline self-study
Kentucky Bridge Program: KYTC Inspection, Rating, Design and Repair
1 PDH · about 60 minutes · Course no. BR-X06 · Instructor: Michael Craig, PE
About the instructor
Michael Craig, PE is Senior Vice President and Southeast Director at Strinteg Corporation, leading bridge inspection and structural engineering across eight states and Puerto Rico. In 27+ years he has inspected over 4,000 structures and completed 3,000+ load ratings and 160+ load tests. He has managed repair and preservation design for complex bridges, including cable-stayed bridges. He holds PE licenses in twelve states, DC and Puerto Rico, SPRAT Level 1, and FAA Part 107 credentials.
Kentucky's bridge program is run by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) under a 2024 Bridge Inspection Procedures Manual written after the 2022 NBIS. This one-hour course covers KYTC's inspection intervals and tolerances, team leader qualifications, follow-up and reporting deadlines, element-level conventions, load rating and posting, plus KYTC's Structural Design Guidance Manual and repair practice.
⬇ Download study guide (PDF)
Learning objectives
- Apply the 2022 NBIS baseline to Kentucky practice
- Use the state DOT's intervals, critical finding and rating rules
- Coordinate inspection, load rating and posting
- Apply the state DOT's bridge design and repair standards
Outline
- Why a Kentucky-specific course
- The federal baseline you are measured against
- Who may inspect and rate in Kentucky
- Kentucky at a glance: the program and its documents
- Inspection types you will see in the bridge file
- Inspection intervals in Kentucky
- Critical findings and urgent deficiencies in Kentucky
- Load rating in Kentucky
- Posting, closure and signs in Kentucky
- Scour, underwater and waterway work in Kentucky
- Load rating refresher: methods, vehicles and rating factors
- Quality control, quality assurance and the bridge file
- Locally owned bridges
- Writing an inspection report a load rater can use
- Southeast hazards: flood, hurricane, salt and trucks
- Preservation lessons from the Southeast Bridge Preservation Partnership
- SNBI coding: what changes on the inspection form
- Permit loads and overweight vehicles
- Closing and reopening a bridge
- Ten common mistakes, and how to avoid them
- A team leader's field checklist
- Questions to ask before your first project in Kentucky
- Bridge design in Kentucky: KYTC standards
- Bridge repair in Kentucky
- Designing a repair in Kentucky: the structural engineer's workflow
- Scenario: one bridge, start to finish, in Kentucky
- Verify before you rely on it
- Open the course (33 screens, 2 knowledge checks)
- Final quiz — 10 questions, 70% to pass
References
- 23 CFR Part 650, Subpart C — National Bridge Inspection Standards (final rule published May 6, 2022)
- FHWA, Specifications for the National Bridge Inventory (SNBI), FHWA-HIF-22-017, March 2022
- AASHTO, The Manual for Bridge Evaluation, 3rd Edition, 2018 (with interim revisions)
- Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Bridge Inspection Procedures Manual, 2024
- KYTC Division of Structural Design, Structural Design Guidance Manual (2024), Transmittal Memorandum 24-02, June 25, 2024
- Egli, B. (TDOT), Preserving Tennessee's Bridge Decks and Joints, Southeast Bridge Preservation Partnership meeting, Atlanta, GA, April 2012
- Sloan, J., PE (NCDOT), Pee Dee River arch bridge feasibility study, Southeast Bridge Preservation Partnership meeting, April 2017
- Burgess & Niple, New River Gorge Bridge preservation, Southeast Bridge Preservation Partnership meeting, Charleston, WV, April 28-30, 2025
- eCFR, 23 CFR 650.311 and 650.313 (current text reviewed October 25, 2026)