Long-Term Bridge Performance Program

LTBP Facts

What is bridge performance?

Understanding bridge performance will be the key to creating "the bridge of the future."

Bridge performance encompasses how bridges function and behave under the complex and interrelated factors and stresses they are subject to day in and day out—traffic volumes, loads, and environmental assaults like de-icing chemicals, freeze-thaw cycles, rains, or high winds. Age, design, materials, and maintenance history also play huge roles in performance. A bridge that is performing well is doing the job it is intended to do safely, efficiently, and reliably.

Evaluating and measuring performance is the most critical attribute in addressing bridge deficiencies; it will provide the knowledge needed to design and build bridges that last longer, perform better, and are less costly to operate and maintain.

Why study bridge performance?

The U.S. highway system is immense, aging rapidly, and being used more frequently and heavily every day.

Highway bridges are vital components of the roadway transportation network that the Nation relies on. Bridges do more than help citizens to more from here to there: they are critical links that make mobility and commerce possible. The entire transportation system is so integrated in the daily lives of Americans that it is possible to take bridges for granted, like tap water and electricity—that is until a bridge used every day is closed.

What is asset management?

Decisionmaking tools and models that help the traspotation community spend budgets more wisely.

Infrastructure asset management is a strategic and systematic process of operating, maintaining, upgrading, and expanding physical assets effectively throughout their life cycles. It focuses on business and engineering practices for resource allocation and utilization, with the objective of better decisionmaking based on quality information and well-defined objectives. In simpler terms, it is about operating, maintaining, and preserving the transportation system in the most cost-effective manner to achieve desired service objectives. In the case of bridges and bridge management, it provides a decisionmaking framework and tools for bridge owners to better plan maintenance, preservation, and repair actions, the times these actions should be taken, and prioritization to get the most “bang for the buck.” It is important to know where to make the best investments and why those decisions are made.