Evaluating Different Bridge Management Strategies Using The Bridge Management Research System (bmrs)

This project investigated the effects of varying two different elements of bridge management strategies. The first element was a trigger value (an NBI condition rating for a bridge component) at which a maintenance treatment can be performed. The second element was the budget. A new software program, the Bridge Management Research System (BMRS), was created to test these elements of bridge management strategies for Indiana\u27s bridge network. BMRS is a simplified version of a previous bridge management software package developed by Purdue University, the Indiana Bridge Management System (IBMS). To test variations in the trigger values, three different bridge management strategies were proposed: a standard maintenance strategy, an early maintenance strategy, and a late maintenance strategy. The standard maintenance strategy allows for maintenance for bridge components with condition ratings from 1 to 5, the early maintenance strategy allows for maintenance for components with condition ratings from 1 to 6, and the late maintenance strategy allows for maintenance for components with condition ratings from 1 to 4. To test variations in the budget for Indiana\u27s bridge network, three different budgets were used: a $150 million budget, a$200 million budget, and a $250 million budget. To evaluate each bridge management strategy, a distribution analysis, a threshold analysis, and a utility analysis were all performed. Distribution analysis looks at how many bridges are between two component condition ratings, threshold analysis looks at how many bridges have ratings greater than or equal to a given component condition rating, and utility analysis looks at how well each maintenance strategy meets certain criteria. After performing these analyses, this study found that, for any of the three budget levels, the standard maintenance strategy leads to better systemwide bridge performance than either the early or late maintenance strategies

Employing Asset Management to Control Costs and Sustain Highway Levels of Service: Volumes I and II

This project investigated the impact of varying two elements of pavement, bridge, and mobility asset management on the long term network-level performance of those assets. The first element was the condition at which restorative treatments are triggered. The second element was the budget available to implement these treatments. For each of the pavement, bridge and mobility assets, three different management strategies in the form of treatment trigger values were investigated: a standard treatment trigger strategy, an early treatment trigger strategy, and a late treatment trigger strategy. For the pavement and bridge assets, the standard treatment trigger strategy simulates INDOT’s current treatment trigger policy. The early treatment trigger strategy simulates performing treatment at a better condition level than the standard treatment trigger strategy, while the late treatment trigger strategy simulates deferring treatment to a worse condition level than the standard treatment trigger strategy. For bridge assets, each treatment trigger strategy had six different treatments that can be applied to different bridge components. It was discovered that the standard (current) treatment trigger strategy outperforms other strategies. For pavement assets, the treatment trigger strategies pertained to pavement rehabilitation treatments. It was found that the long-term pavement roughness condition at the network-level is highly influenced by the policy being used to trigger pavement rehabilitation. The higher the trigger standard, the higher the percentage of miles in good condition and the lower the percentage of miles in poor condition. For mobility management, the treatment trigger strategies pertained to lane additions. It was discovered that neither restricting nor expanding the lane addition project candidate list (corresponding to the late and early treatment trigger strategies, respectively) provides more cost efficiency in the long-term for reducing the percent of road miles or VMT experiencing peak hour congestion. The report consists of two volumes; the first volume reports the analysis results for the bridge asset class and the second volume reports the analysis results for the pavement and mobility asset classes

Cost‐Effective Data Collection to Support INDOT’s Mission

This study\u27s main purpose was to provide an inventory of the data collection programs undertaken by INDOT\u27s divisions and offices and to give recommendations regarding addition, removal, or modification of data collection programs. Chapter 1 provides a background for the data collection efforts at INDOT and in other State DOTs. The inventory phase of the project was accomplished through a series of interviews, which were converted into a series of technical memos in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 summarizes information about the data collection programs carried out by INDOT, including the data items collected, the data collector and/or owner entity, frequency of collection, the tools used for data collection and storage, and the purpose of collection. The information was compiled from the INDOT Data Collection Online Survey and phone interviews with INDOT employees. In Chapter 4, a set of flow diagrams were created to depict the creators and users of data within INDOT. The tables in Chapter 5 that summarize the data needs, use, and adequacy as seen by various units in INDOT is the result of another online survey. Chapter 6 presents suggested changes to the INDOT data collection programs that can continue to meet state and federal requirements, while making the data collection process more efficient