DEVELOPMENT OF A BRIDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN JAPAN

Japan has rapidly built up infrastructures for the current decade, and bridge engineers have been recognising the importance of maintenance and management of road bridges. Japan is already highly developed, and it is difficult to expect high economic growth and a substantial increase of budget and also an increase in the number of bridge engineers. It is necessary to carry out cost-effective and systematic bridge management with a limited budget and a limited number of engineers. Bridge inspection techniques and inspection manuals have been improved dramatically. In Japan, all of the conditions required to develop a computerised bridge management system are in place. The Public Works Research Institute has started to develop a system to assist bridge managers and engineers. This paper explains the bridge management system being developed in Japan. (A) For the covering abstract see IRRD 882313.