The scouring of the piers supporting highway bridges has come lO be recognized as a major problem facing th· highway engineer. It is bee ming increa ingly obvi u that bridge that face possible scour situations must be monitored during their lifetime. Much da_ta will be collected during the monitoring pha e. A computerized system for rhe torage, organization, a1rnlysi and di play of field-collected scour data is described. The sy iem accept input from the u e1·, and on the basi of user specification, a llo~ s che data to be organized a11d vic:: 1 c:: u i11 a variety of formats. These formats include cross secti n from scour measw· ements at selected locations upstream or down ire. am of the bridge, longitudinal profile through a selected pier, nnd the temporal history of maximum scour activity within ap cified area near the bridge. The data may be viewed in rabular as well a graphical formats. Jn add. ition the available scour lata were analyzed and u ed to develop regr ion equations that related long-term trend in channel degra< lat. ion to flow and geometric variables. These equations were incorporated into the computer system so that th user could determine if observed trends in channel degradation were likely to continue.

The safety of highway bridges can be seriously impaired because of the undermining of the supporting piers by scour. The threat that potential bridge scour poses to the integrity of the highway system is becoming increasingly obvious. Recent failures in New York and Tennessee demonstrate the risk faced by many bridge structures. Potential scour must be taken into account during the design phase of bridge construction. However, it is also important that bridges that face possible scour situations be monitored during their lifetimes. Much data will be collected during the monitoring phase. These data must be organized and analyzed in the most efficient manner possible. The organization and analysis of field-collected scour data are the topics with which this paper is concerned. Presently, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD) is monitoring about 80 bridges to detect possible danger of failure caused by pier scour. The scour surveys are done after flood events, or at specified time intervals during low water by fathometer and are reported on scour survey sheets that contain channel bottom elevations (NGVD) at selected locations upstream and downstream of the bridge piers. A schematic of a typical survey layout is shown in Figure 1. There are not sufficient data for either a full longitudinal profile or a full channel cross section to be