Bridge Management
The FHWA's goal is to promote the use and understanding of what bridge management systems are and are not. Emphasizing the use of a bridge management system to assist bridge owners in being able to do the right activity, to the right bridge, at the right time and at the right cost is paramount to preserving our transportation infrastructure in general and our highway bridges in particular.
Based in part on responses to the 2011 FHWA bridge management questionnaire, a number of bridge management related accomplishments have been achieved, including completion of six regional bridge management peer exchanges, targeted State bridge management process improvement reviews, bridge management case studies, and national conferences. Future plans call for development of a bridge management strategic business plan, a bridge management system implementation guide, a performance based management of highway bridges training course as well as performing additional bridge management case studies, and targeted State bridge management process improvement reviews.
In 2011, the FHWA in conjunction with AASHTO TSP2 and the Midwest Bridge Preservation Partnership Meeting, Western Bridge Preservation Partnership Meeting, and Midwest Bridge Inspection and Maintenance Working Group hosted a National Bridge Management, Inspection and Preservation Conference. The main theme of the conference was Inspecting, Managing and Preserving the Nation's Bridges Beyond the Short Term. Presentation videos are available at http://www.tsp2.org/bridge/national-bridge-2011/presentations-videos/. During this conference, there were two bridge management roundtable discussions with a number of State DOTs participating. Conference proceedings are also available under the publications list below.
A bridge management software tool called AASHTOware Bridge Management (formerly known as Pontis) was developed under an FHWA contract during the early 1990's. The software became an AASHTO product in 1994. For more information on AASHTOware Bridge Management see their website located at: http://www.aashtoware.org/Bridge/Pages/Management.aspx?PID=2
Publications
- Bridge Management Questionnaire Report (.pdf, 2 mb)
- Improving FHWA's Ability to Assess Highway Infrastructure Health National Meeting Report (.pdf, 1 mb)
- Measuring Performance Among State DOTs Sharing Best Practices, Comparative Analysis of Bridge Condition (.pdf, 1.4 mb)
- NCHRP Synthesis 397 Bridge Management Systems for Transportation Agency Decision Making (.pdf, 2.8 mb)
- NCHRP 12-67 Multi-objective optimization for Bridge Management Systems
- Proceedings of the 2011 National Bridge Management, Inspection and Preservation Conference: Beyond the Short Term (.pdf, 2 mb)
Transportation Asset Management Case Studies
- Bridge Management Practices in Idaho, Michigan and Virginia
- Bridge Management Experiences of California, Florida, and South Dakota
- Culvert Management Systems: Alabama, Maryland, Minnesota, and Shelby County