Optimum Maintenance Strategies for Highway Bridges

As bridges become older and maintenance costs become higher, transportation agencies are facing challenges related to implementation of optimal bridge management programs based on life-cycle cost considerations. A reliability-based approach is necessary to find optimal solutions based on minimum expected life-cycle costs or maximum life-cycle benefits. This is because many maintenance activities can be associated with significant costs, but their effects on bridge safety can be minor. In this paper, the program of an investigation on optimum maintenance strategies for different bridge types is described. The end result of this investigation will be a general reliability-based framework to be used by the U.K. Highways Agency in order to plan optimal strategies for the maintenance of its bridge network so as to optimize wholelife costs.