Development of a Life-Cycle Cost Analysis Tool for Improved Maintenance and Management of Bridges

US Transportation Collection2020PDFTech ReportAlipour, AliceShafei, BehrouzMock, AndrewPrajapat, KantaIowa State University. Bridge Engineering CenterIowa Highway Research BoardIowa. Department of TransportationIowa State University. Institute for TransportationIowaUnited StatesAsset managementBridge decksBridge management systemsLife cycle costingMaintenance managementLife cycle analysisBridge condition ratingsBridge maintenanceIHRB Project TR-737Final ReportThe Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) of 2012 requires states to develop and implement a transportation asset management plan (TAMP) for their respective portions of the National Highway System (NHS). Life-cycle cost and risk management analyses must be included in a state\u2019s TAMP. As defined in the 1998 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) is \u201ca process for evaluating the total economic worth of a usable project segment by analyzing initial costs and discounted future costs, such as maintenance, user costs, and reconstruction, rehabilitation, restoring, and resurfacing costs, over the life of the project segment.\u201d The main objective of this research project was to develop a LCCA tool for Iowa\u2019s bridges based on survival analysis of condition ratings. This tool was designed to cover the most common types of bridges in Iowa while integrating historical data from maintenance crews, contractors, and past inspections into the predictive models that account for the costs of maintenance and repair during a bridge\u2019s service life. The tool developed in this project provides a user friendly way to evaluate and compare maintenance costs for bridge decks over the lifetime of a bridge. With this information, transportation investment decisions can be made in consideration of all of the maintenance costs incurred during the period over which the maintenance alternatives are being compared.110