Category: Bridge Design and Rating

Check out the following technical note posted on the AASHTOWare BrDR Technical Support website at https://aashtowarebrdr.org/ on April 10, 2026. To access BrDR Technical Notes, navigate to the Bridge Design and Rating menu at the top, select Technical Notes from the menu, and login using brdr.

• Technical Note 89 – Culvert control option: Ignore effects from negligible LL – BrR versions 7.3 through 7.7 include a culvert rating control option that allows live load effects to be neglected when the factored vertical live load pressure at the surface is less than 10 percent of the combined factored vertical earth load and vertical live load pressure, per the 2022 interim to the 3rd Edition of the Manual for Bridge Evaluation. When this option is enabled, BrR may report a blanket rating factor of 99.0 even when the dead load exceeds the culvert capacity, resulting in incorrect rating results. There is no current workaround. This issue will be corrected in BrR version 7.8. See Technical Note 89 – Culvert control option: Ignore effects from negligible LL for more information.

Please direct any questions to AASHTOWare Bridge Design and Rating Technical Support at BrDR@promiles.com.

Check out the following technical note posted on the AASHTOWare BrDR Technical Support website at https://aashtowarebrdr.org/ on March 23, 2026. To access BrDR Technical Notes, navigate to the Bridge Design and Rating menu at the top, select Technical Notes from the menu, and login using brdr.

• Technical Note 88 – LFR Shear Rating – Vci / Mcr Calculation – For LFR shear load ratings of prestressed concrete members, the computation of the cracking moment parameter, Mcr, used in Eq. (9-27) for the girder shear strength provided by concrete controlled by flexure-shear cracking, Vci, is incorrect for points-of-interest (POIs) located in negative moment regions. See Technical Note 88 – LFR Shear Rating – Vci / Mcr Calculation for more information.

Please direct any questions to AASHTOWare Bridge Design and Rating Technical Support at BrDR@promiles.com.

The Bridge Design and Rating Newsletter is available online!

Read about all of this in the March 2026 Newsletter.

• Pier Cap Rating and Substructure Enhancements
• BrDR Database Hosting Services
• BSSD Knowledge Base
• How West Virginia is Leveraging AASHTOWare PermitRoute and AASHTOWare Bridge Rating
• Save the Date 2026 Joint RADBUG & BrMUG
• 2026 AASHTOWare Connect

The AASHTOWare Bridge Design and Rating Task Force is pleased to deliver version 7.7.1 of the AASHTOWare Bridge Design (BrD) and AASHTOWare Bridge Rating (BrR) products and the combined Design and Rating product (BrDR).

7.7 Maintenance Update 1 (version 7.7.1) addressed 2 BrDR Support Service Desk (BSSD) incidents:

• BSSD-5709 – Bridge parameters XML version conversion issue
• BSSD-5713 – Bridge Description (cont’d) tab parameters not visible – Oracle

Special Notes:

• 7.7.1 does not require a BrDR database migration and the installer provides the option to upgrade your 7.7.0 installation to 7.7.1.

The 7.7.1 release download package, with Bridge Design, Bridge Rating, or both, is provided in accordance with your AASHTO license agreement.  Installation instructions are provided within the AASHTOWare Bridge Startup Guide in the download package.

Software distribution is processed based on the information the organization provides when the software is licensed. The 7.7.1 release download package will be distributed to the organization’s shipping designee and listed end user. Software distribution to all licensees will be completed within 5 working days from this announcement. A follow-up email will be sent upon completion and provide information on the learning resources available for the new capabilities and features.

Please direct any questions to AASHTOWare Bridge Design and Rating Technical Support at BrDR@promiles.com.

Check out the following technical notes posted on the AASHTOWare BrDR Technical Support website at https://aashtowarebrdr.org/ on February 05, 2026. To access BrDR Technical Notes, navigate to the Bridge Design and Rating menu at the top, select Technical Notes from the menu, and login using brdr.

• Technical Note 87 – Bridge Parameters XML Version Conversion Issue – BrDR version 7.7.1 corrects an issue in the XML version conversion process where bridge parameter information on the Description (cont’d) tab of the Bridge Description window was not imported when bringing bridges into the software. This behavior occurred only during XML import and did not affect database migration. The update ensures that all parameter information on this tab is now imported consistently during XML version conversion. See Technical Note 87 – Bridge Parameters XML Version Conversion for more information.

Please direct any questions to AASHTOWare Bridge Design and Rating Technical Support at BrDR@promiles.com.

The Bridge Design and Rating Newsletter is available online!

Read about all of this in the December 2025 Newsletter.

• 2025 RADBUG Enhancement Voting Results
• Explore BrDR’s Library of On-demand Videos
• Save the Date for the 2026 Joint RADBUG and BrMUG
• AASHTOWare Bridge Design and Rating Task Force

The AASHTOWare Bridge Design and Rating Task Force is pleased to deliver version 7.7.0 of the AASHTOWare Bridge Design (BrD) and AASHTOWare Bridge Rating (BrR) products and the combined Design and Rating product (BrDR).

The 7.7.0 release adds the following capabilities and features:

• Section 508 accessibility compliance. This includes high contrast modes, screen dictation support, and SVG images (for scaling images and high contrast mode) across the BrDR suite, including the PS Design Tool, Steel Design Tool, and Migration Wizard.  These updates ensure improved accessibility and usability for all users, including those with disabilities.

7.7.0 addressed 171 BrDR Support Service Desk (BSSD) incidents.  See the release notes for more information.

Special Notes:

The 7.7.0 release download package, with Bridge Design, Bridge Rating, or both, is provided in accordance with your AASHTO license agreement.  Installation instructions are provided within the AASHTOWare Bridge Startup Guide in the download package.

Software distribution is processed based on the information the organization provides when the software is licensed. The 7.7.0 release download package will be distributed to the organization’s shipping designee and listed end user. Software distribution to all licensees will be completed within 5 working days from this announcement. A follow-up email will be sent upon completion of software distribution.

Please direct any questions to AASHTOWare Bridge Design and Rating Technical Support at BrDR@promiles.com.

Check out the following technical notes posted on the AASHTOWare BrDR Technical Support website at https://aashtowarebrdr.org/ on September 22, 2025. To access BrDR Technical Notes, navigate to the Bridge Design and Rating menu at the top, select Technical Notes from the menu, and login using brdr.

• Technical Note 85 – Gusset Plate Partial Shear Planes – BrDR version 7.7 updates the terminology used for gusset plate partial shear planes to improve clarity and consistency between the input tab and F1 Help. The shear plane directions are now labeled as Smaller Angle Partial Plane and Larger Angle Partial Plane to reduce misinterpretation. See Technical Note 85 – Gusset Plate Partial Shear Planes for more information.
• Technical Note 86 – Cross-frame Axial Rigidity Coefficients – Default Behavior – BrDR version 7.6 introduces input fields for axial rigidity coefficients in the Diaphragm Definitions window. For 3D LRFD/LRFR analysis with the 10th Edition of the LRFD Bridge Design Specifications, if no values are entered, BrDR now applies default coefficients as per Article 4.6.3.3.4c for single-angle and tee-section cross-frame members. This update may affect models created with earlier versions. See Technical Note 86 – Cross-frame Axial Rigidity Coefficients – Default Behavior for more information.

Please direct any questions to AASHTOWare Bridge Design and Rating Technical Support at BrDR@promiles.com.

The Bridge Design and Rating Newsletter is available online!

Read about all of this in the September 2025 Newsletter.

• AASHTOWare Bridge Design and Rating (BrDR) Task Force Membership Update
• AASHTOWare Bridge Design and Rating (BrDR) Cloud Platform Project Work Plan – Submitted to SCOA for Approval and Execution!
• AASHTOWare Bridge Design and Rating (BrDR) 7.7 Beta Testing Update
• 2025 RADBUG Annual Meeting Snapshot
• Webinar coming soon: AASHTOWare BrDR 7.6 with AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications, 10th Edition – A Deep Dive
• 2025 Golden Span Award

The Bridge Design and Rating Newsletter is available online!

Read about all of this in the June 2025 Newsletter.

• FY26 AASHTOWare Bridge Design and Rating (BrDR) Version Support Policy
• BrDR Spotlight – California Department of Transportation
• An improved category structure for better organizing the tutorials
• FY26-FY30 Strategic Work Plan
• Register for the 2025 RADBUG Today!