AASHTOWare Bridge Design and Rating (BrDR) Cloud Platform Project Work Plan – Submitted to SCOA for Approval and Execution!

September 12, 2025

AASHTOWare Bridge Design and Rating (BrDR) is a Windows desktop application with a feature rich user interface that can capture three-dimensional descriptions of more than 90% of the National Bridge Inventory (NBI) bridges. The bridge descriptions are stored and maintained in relational database management systems at the back end. The three-dimensional bridge description is the basis for processing 3-D mathematical modeling, structural analysis, and AASHTO specification checking of the bridge structure with applied vehicle loadings of various configurations. These engineering design review and load rating operations are data and computation intensive processes. As cloud computing becomes prevalent for data and computation intensive systems, a cloud-native software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution is inevitable for the BrDR system.

As requested by the Special Committee on AASHTOWare (SCOA), AASHTOWare BrDR submitted a Cloud Platform Project work plan for approval and execution in accordance with the BrDR 5-Year Strategic Goals. The submittal demonstrated that AASHTOWare BrDR’s strategic goals are in  support of the overall strategic objectives of the Special Committee on AASHTOWare (SCOA), and the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026-2030 AASHTOWare Strategic Work Plan.

All AASHTOWare products were asked to provide a roadmap for transitioning from a desktop client-database server application to a cloud-native SaaS solution.

BrDR’s plan of approach for this project is to maintain the desktop client version of the software, while building the cloud essential features that can achieve immediate benefits for the users. In subsequent phases of this multi-year Cloud project the long-term strategic goal is for a cloud-native data platform. This will require building the interface and rearchitecting the analytical engines to support and optimize usage in the cloud.

For further information, please contact the BrDR Task Force directly.