Transportation asset management systems: a risk-oriented decision making approach to bridge investment

Transportation Asset Management (TAM) systems are in use at a significant number of transportation agencies. These systems can be used to effectively allocate resources and continuously inventory and monitor the condition of transportation infrastructure assets. Risk-oriented decision making is becoming an increasingly important component of the management process at many organizations, including transportation agencies. TAM systems can be used to incorporate risk assessment and risk management techniques at transportation agencies. To demonstrate the value of incorporating risk in TAM systems, an examination of the literature was performed, and a case study was conducted. This case study incorporated risk in bridge project prioritization through the utilization of data from the National Bridge Inventory (NBI), and application of Multi Attribute Decision Making (MADM) concepts to address uncertainty and prioritize selected bridges in the state of Georgia. The case study examines the impacts of data aggregation and disaggregation, and the incorporation of uncertainty on bridge project prioritization. Results of this analysis show that when available, disaggregate data on bridge condition should be used. In addition, uncertainty, in terms of performance risk, should be incorporated when past bridge condition data is available. Furthermore, decision-maker input is an important component of the Multi Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) prioritization methodology used in this analysis. Decision-makers determine the relative importance of certain attributes, which is one of the strengths of this type of prioritization effort.M.S.Committee Chair: Meyer, Michael; Committee Co-Chair: Amekudzi, Adjo; Committee Member: Southworth, Fran