BETTER MANAGEMENT OF LOCAL ROAD BRIDGE ASSETS

Bridges are key elements in any road network and represent a major investment of community resources. It is therefore necessary to manage bridge assets to ensure that all bridges are maintained in a safe condition with the most cost efficient use of resources. A recent review on the bridge inventory in Australia has estimated that local government owns about 20,000 bridges. In general terms the local government bridge stock was found to be older, in poorer condition and have shorter spans than bridges on state arterials. This can often lead to more load limits being imposed, resulting in heavy traffic having to take a much longer route to reach its destination. This results in serious restriction on the effective and efficient operation of the local road network particularly in rural areas. A major task facing local road agencies responsible for the bridge infrastructure across the nation is the repair and replacement of the reported large deficiency in bridge conditions. This task involves maintenance to correct deteriorating components of bridges, and reconstruction or replacement of bridges that can no longer be effectively and efficiently repaired or upgraded to serve current and future traffic requirements. In recognition of the current poor state of many local road bridges across Australia and lack of appropriate bridge management practices in many authorities, ARRB Transport Research, with the support of a number of sponsors, have produced a 'state of the art' Local Roads Bridge Management Manual to assist practitioners in this national task of improving the management of bridge assets. The paper outlines the contents of the manual and how it can be best used to benefit the many practitioners responsible for the management of the local roads bridge asset. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E202262.