AASHTOWare Bridge Design and Rating (BrDR) 7.7 Beta Testing Update

September 12, 2025

Beta Testing is a critical quality control process for the AASHTOWare BrDR software. For one day in Boise, Idaho, 20 Beta Testers gathered to run the software through its paces. Prior to the Rating and Design Bridge Users Group (RADBUG) meeting, testers from 13 state agencies and 3 consultants met to test the Beta 1 release of the BrDR 7.7 software. This meeting allowed for some dedicated testing of the newly implemented Section 508 compliance features for the software. This enhancement will provide clearer static images (Scalable Vector Graphics or SVG) and a dark-mode theme. This proved to be very labor intensive to test. In just one day, Beta Testers reviewed and tested over 40 different structure type permutations and filed over 170 issues, which will be addressed before the release of the software. Some sample windows of the enhancement are shown below.

 

In addition to the Section 508 compliance enhancement, Beta Testing was performed to backcheck maintenance issues in the software. The Beta Tester’s combined efforts in providing this dedicated testing ensures a higher quality final release of the software. Their efforts are greatly appreciated!

The Beta Testers who took part in the Idaho testing are listed below.

Participant	Agency
Jeff Ruby, Testing TAG Chair	Kansas DOT
Mike Johnson, Testing TAG Vice Chair	Idaho TD
ABM Abdullah	Virginia DOT
Alex Pence	Wisconsin DOT
Dewei Meng	Rhode Island DOT
Elizabeth Befikadu	AI Engineers
Harisharan Panta	Connecticut DOT
Igor Chernioglo	California DOT
Jennifer Hart	Indiana DOT
Kayla Jacobsen	Forsgren Associates
Kelsey Roman	New York State DOT
Lauren Graham	Idaho TD
Manjil Devkota	Virginia DOT
Melissa Hennessy	Idaho TD
Mike Wall	Alabama DOT
Richard Withers	Neel-Schaffer
Robby Tennant	West Virginia DOH
Ruben Boehler	Illinois DOT
Scott Westerfield	Mississippi DOT
William Johnson	Idaho TD
Michael Hagos	Minitoba
Yihong Gao	Minnesota DOT