2024 National Welding Month

For the second week of Welding Month, let's celebrate The Bridge Welding Code.

 

The Bridge Welding Code, fully known as the AASHTO/AWS Bridge Welding Code, D1.5, is one of a family of nine welding codes in the American Welding Society (AWS) D1, Structural Welding, family. However, unique to D1.5, it is the only one overseen by a joint committee, with the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) jointly sharing oversight of the standard. 

 

Based on the terms of the AASHTO/AWS agreement, D1.5 is overseen by a committee of 18 volunteers, including six AASHTO members, appointed by the AASTHO Committee on Bridges and Structures; six members appointed by AWS; and six members whose appointments are agreed to by both. You'll find the names of these appointees inside the front cover of the Code.

 

The committee is further supported by several dozen additional volunteers who also develop content for the Code on task groups. The committee meets at least twice a year to address business, which includes voting on the work of the task groups and then moving these ballots on the AASHTO and, in parallel, up the chain within AWS. 

 

The committee and its supporters come from state DOTs; bridge fabricators; welding suppliers; structural designers, academics, welding consultants; and fabrication inspectors, including leading national representatives in their fields. 

 

Certainly, the Bridge Welding Code represents the state of the art in bridge welding. The committee works diligently to stay up to speed with the latest advances in steel bridge welding and inspection, bringing innovations to the Code to help ensure that the use of the Code represents the best possible practices. For example, the Bridge Welding Code introduced phased array ultrasonic testing (as shown in the photo to the left) to the 2015 edition of the Code, the first of the D1 standards to do so. 

 

Further, the use of the Code standardizes best practices in the shop. Welders and inspectors know that when they work under the Code, the rules and expectations are the same (less a few owner-unique exceptions) regardless of the state, county, railroad, city, or toll authority the bridge is for. This standardization not only helps ensure best practices but also helps ensure everyone is working to standards that are consistent and well understood, such as for welding procedure qualification (as shown in the photo). 

 

Each year thousands of bridge plate girders, cross frames, arches, trusses, and tub girders are welded under the Code, resulting in robust highway and railroad bridges that reliably, continually, and safely help all of us and our goods speed on their way. Let's celebrate the Code, the work of the volunteers who work long hours to make it right, and the support of their companies, like mine, High Steel, who send their coworkers to meetings and allow them time to work on it.