A curated, opinionated shelf for practicing bridge engineers — US, European, Korean and Japanese practice side by side. Free public-domain material is linked in full; commercial standards are linked to their official homes only, never mirrored. Each entry notes what it is good for. Links verified reachable: 2026-08. 42 references · 15 jurisdictions.
If a project spec cites one of these, the rest of the design usually follows. Middle-East, South-Asian and many national codes are calibrated against them.
The world’s benchmark highway-bridge code — the direct design basis in the US and the calibration reference for the Saudi SHC, Pakistan NHA practice, Abu Dhabi DMT manuals and more.
EN 1990 basis, EN 1991-2 traffic loads, EN 1992/1993/1994 for concrete, steel and composite bridges — the second global pole; also the basis of Hong Kong’s SDM.
ACI 318 for structural concrete plus ACI 343R analysis & design of concrete bridge structures.
AISC 360 and companions; the NSBA Steel Bridge Design Handbook itself is free (see the Free library).
Design examples, geotechnical circulars, seismic manuals, preservation guides — the deepest free bridge bookshelf on the internet.
The research bridge between Eurocode generations; bulletins on segmental, cable-supported and durability design.
Everything here downloads legally at no cost.
End-to-end worked designs: loads, distribution factors, proportioning, ratings. Our walkthrough below mirrors the steel example’s early steps.
Reference manuals for the NHI courses plus the wider library.
19 volumes with worked examples — effectively a free graduate course in steel bridges.
The precast/prestressed bible — registration, then free download.
The exact handbook supplied at the FE exam — pair it with our FE practice module.
Thousands of downloadable reports — distribution factors, integral abutments, LRFR calibration and more.
What US design offices buy, in citation order.
Design spec plus the MBE for load rating — our LRFR tool follows the MBE flow.
Member design, connections, stability — referenced by AASHTO for steel details.
The US recommendation for stay-cable testing, design and installation — companion to our catenary tool.
US bridge maintenance is governed by federal regulation — and almost all of it is free to read.
The National Bridge Inspection Standards: inspector qualifications, risk-based inspection intervals (12/24/48/72 months), QC/QA duties. The 2022 final rule modernized the whole program.
The national inspection textbook, revised for the 2022 NBIS — procedures and evaluation for every component and material.
How every US bridge is coded and reported: condition ratings, elements, appraisal — supersedes the old Coding Guide.
Memoranda and guidance: NSTM inspection, intervals, weathering-steel findings, compliance reviews.
Load rating (LRFR), permits and posting — the evaluation half of the AASHTO pair.
EN 1990–1999 structure, national annexes, free background documents.
The famous French guides in English — cable stays (CIP), footbridge dynamics, prestressing — many free PDFs.
The complete UK trunk-road standard — CS/CD series for structures design, assessment and inspection, all readable at no cost.
China’s JTG series (JTG D60 loads and companions) is sold through China Communications Press without an open portal — we link only official free or purchasable sources.
The Korean bridge design (KDS 24) and construction (KCS 24) codes — full text free on the national portal.
Japan’s five-volume highway bridge specification — the seismic volume (V) is world-reference material.
English editions of the JSCE concrete specifications.
Hong Kong’s bridge manual, migrated from BS 5400 to a Eurocode basis with local wind and temperature overlays — full text free on the official portal.
Regional practice is AASHTO-calibrated with local loading, durability and environment overlays.
Abu Dhabi’s bridge and structures design manual — AASHTO LRFD-based with emirate-specific loads, clearances and durability, hosted on the official QCC standards portal.
Traffic control for works on Abu Dhabi roads — a construction-stage companion. Dubai’s RTA design manuals are issued to registered consultants via RTA rather than published openly.
The full SHC set: SHC 310 bridge & tunnel design (aligned to AASHTO LRFD 9th), SHC 402 construction, SHC 501/502 pavement and bridge maintenance & management systems.
The IRC series is among the most-cited code families in Asia; Pakistan and Bangladesh design to AASHTO-family loads with local overlays.
Class A / 70R live loads, combinations and impact — the regional counterpart to AASHTO Section 3.
The unified limit-state concrete bridge code that replaced IRC:18 & 21.
Limit-state steel bridge design; explicitly cross-references BS EN 1993-2.
Clearances, waterway, alignment, skew limits — the front door of the IRC bridge series.
Clause-by-clause commentary with design aids for IRC:112.
NHA Code 2005 volumes and the General Specifications. Bridge live loads follow the West Pakistan Code of Practice for Highway Bridges (Class A / AA military loading) combined with current AASHTO LRFD.
RHD’s bridge standards drawing on AASHTO with local hydraulic clearances and railway-authority requirements.
Limit-states code with a strong durability and rehabilitation focus.
The AS 5100 series covering loads, concrete, steel and geotech for bridges.
New Zealand’s full bridge design and evaluation manual — free to download, with a strong seismic and evaluation focus.
A representative two-lane composite steel plate-girder interior span, in the spirit of the FHWA steel example: S = 2.97 m · L = 36.6 m · ts = 215 mm · Nb = 5 · de = 0.90 m. Every step opens a tool pre-loaded with these numbers — change anything and the chain recomputes. Values are indicative; always verify against the source example and the governing code.