An approach to integrating bridge and other asset management analyses

Abstract

Bridge management systems have proved to be of great value for developing preservation strategies, understanding life-cycle costs, and analyzing the benefits and costs at the alternatives at the project and program levels. However, a critical issue in using bridge management systems to address broader asset management needs is that an agency must integrate results generated from bridge management systems with results from other asset management systems in making tradeoff decisions. National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 20-57 was undertaken to provide new analytical tools to support asset management. The project’s research objectives emphasize the need for tools that help agencies to make the difficult tradeoff decisions for resource allocation while considering both asset preservation concerns as well as the broader set of policy objectives (e.g., safety and economic development) that must be taken into account when making investments in transportation assets.