PONTIS — A Bridge Inspection By WILLIAM T. SUNLEY, Engineer of Local Roads and Streets, IDOT

Pontis inspections are a more in-depth form of bridge inspection which the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has begun to perform on structures on the state highway system. When first hearing of "Pontis" inspections, many persons assume that the term is an acronym with each letter representing a word in the inspection system's name. However, the term Pontis is not an acronym but is actually the Latin word for "bridge."

IDOT first decided to begin performing Pontis inspections to comply with the requirements of the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) which required that all states develop and implement a Bridge Management System (BMS) by October of 1998. After examining the systems available, including those being implemented by other states, IDOT chose to adopt the Pontis inspection system to satisfy the federal requirement for a BMS.

When the requirements of the ISTEA were first distributed in 1991, the implementation of BMS inspections was mandatory for all bridges, both state and local, in Illinois. Since that time, new federal legislation has been passed and mandatory implementation of BMS inspections is now applicable only to bridges on the National Highway System. Local agencies may now perform Pontis inspections for local agency bridges on a voluntary basis, except for structures located on the National Highway System. IDOT has found the Pontis inspections to be a superior inspection system and has adopted the inspection system for use on all state structures.

Most persons involved with the maintenance, inspection and construction of all local agencies' bridges are familiar with the national bridge inspection system currently used by local agencies to insure that bridges can safely carry vehicles. Although these inspections can provide a general indication of the overall condition of a structure, the primary purpose of NBIS bridge inspections is to insure safety. Pontis inspection procedures were developed to give a more accurate assessment of the overall condition of the structure and to provide in-depth information on existing structure deficiencies for use in determining the need for maintenance.

IDOT began training Department personnel to perform Pontis Inspections in the fall of 1994. The inspectors being trained were experienced in the performance of NBIS inspections and recognized that the Pontis inspections would take more time to perform. For this reason there was some reluctance on the part of the IDOT inspectors to immediately embrace the new inspection system. However, after the inspectors gained experience in performing the Pontis inspections, the general feeling was that the extra time required to perform the inspection was more than offset by the quality of the information obtained on the condition of the bridge.

In order to insure that the Pontis inspection system addressed the needs for structures typically found on local highway systems, Adams County agreed to assist the Department by performing Pontis inspections on a representative cross section of bridges located in Adams County, Initially, Adams County personnel expressed the same reservations that the Departments personnel had during the initial training and implementation of the inspection system. However, as in the case of the Department's inspectors, Adams County personnel now accept Pontis inspections as a useful tool for

October 1995 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 13

assessing the actual overall condition of structures and identifying maintenance needs. The county now plans to continue to perform Pontis inspections for their bridges even though a federal mandate no longer requires them to do so.

Four Pontis training classes will be offered by the Department this fall and early next year at various locations throughout the state. Local agency inspectors are welcome and encouraged to attend the Pontis inspection training classes. Each class will by three days in length and there is no fee required to attend the classes. However, local agency participants are responsible and must arrange for their lodging and other expenses. The classes will be presented by personnel of the Bureau of Bridges and Structures and information relative to the classes will be distributed by the Technology Transfer Center of the Bureau of Local Roads and Streets.

So far in this article we have concentrated on describing the inspection aspects of Pontis but, as previously mentioned, Pontis was adopted by IDOT to satisfy the need for a bridge management system. The Pontis inspection information is used as the data in the bridge management computer programs available within the Pontis system. Using these programs, persons responsible for the maintenance of bridge systems can accurately determine their maintenance needs and the costs associated with satisfying those needs. The programs allow the bridge owner to identify the costs associated with alternate maintenance strategies and, using deterioration rates for individual bridge elements, the program can forecast future costs associated with the delay of maintenance. The programming side of Pontis provides a tool that not only gives maintenance cost information but also provides those responsible for maintenance a means of effectively informing persons in control of funding allocations of present and future funding needs to prevent the deterioration of their bridge system.

Although there is no longer a federal requirement that all bridges in Illinois be included in a BMS by October of 1998, IDOT's experience with the inspection system has led us to believe that Pontis inspections, or a similar inspection system, will eventually replace the current NBIS inspections. When this will occur is open to speculation. As local agencies become aware of the benefits of the Pontis inspection system, voluntary participation will increase. Eventually, Pontis-type inspections will become the inspection of choice and NBIS inspections will be regarded as a thing of the past. As the County and Municipal Engineers have effectively utilized NBIS inspections over the years to provide the traveling public with safe structures, we can anticipate that Pontis inspections will be utilized to enhance that safety while extending the useful life of our bridges. •

Page 14 / Illinois Municipal Review / October 1995