The study addresses the influence of local soft valley sediment on incident wave propagation and the relative response of two adjacent bridge structures. In contrast to previous studies the effect of various angles and dominant frequencies of the incident waves and soil-structure interaction are considered. The investigation reveals that the local soft soil can significantly alter the spatial variation and also frequency content of the surface ground motions. The simultaneous effect of soil-structure interaction and the spatially varying ground excitations due to inclined incident waves are significant for an adequate estimation of the damage potential of the bridge girders due to poundings and insufficient seat length.