§ 6.3.2. Bridge Railing

A.

This section of the Transportation Criteria Manual (TCM) describes the requirements of the City of Austin. In order to maintain consistency and safety to the general public, the TxDOT "Bridge Railing Manual" (BRM, see http://manuals.dot.state.tx.us/dynaweb/ colbridg/rlg) is hereby included by reference as a requirement within the jurisdiction of the City of Austin. The City of Austin's TCM will provide supplementary and complementary information and requirements to the TxDOT document. When there are differences between BRM and TCM, the more restrictive or conservative of the two shall be required.

B.

Bridge railing shall be as defined in the TxDOT BRM. For construction by site permit or for new subdivision construction, bridge railing shall be required at all bridges. For capital improvement projects on any roadways, bridge railing shall be required for all bridges. Responsibility for the appropriate use of TxDOT standard bridge railings remains with the licensed professional engineer who specifies them.

C.

When a bridge railing is to be specified on a bridge with a pedestrian walkway and a combination railing is deemed inappropriate (e.g. design speed too high for combination railing), then the pedestrian railing shall be used in conjunction with a non-combination bridge railing.

D.

When transitions from bridge railing on the bridge to traffic railing on the roadway cannot be accommodated with metal beam guard fence (e.g. driveways), then suitable end protection (energy absorbing devices) shall be specified for the exposed ends of the bridge railing.