Citation

Scherschligt D, Kulkarni R. Transp. Res. Circular 2003; (E-C049): 29-45.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, U.S. National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) has been using priority formulas for the past 20 years to select projects for major rehabilitation, modification, or replacement of roadways and bridges. The department currently uses a bridge priority formula based on National Bridge Inventory (NBI) ratings for deck and structural conditions. Since 1994, KDOT has also conducted element-level inspections for use in the Pontis Bridge Management System. To avoid duplication of data collection and better utilize the Pontis system's detailed element-level data, KDOT evaluated whether to replace the NBI ratings with the Pontis inspection data in the bridge priority formula. Pontis also offers priority rankings of bridges on the basis of cost-benefit analysis. KDOT wanted to explore whether the Pontis system should replace the bridge priority formula as the method for prioritizing bridge improvements and selecting bridges for major rehabilitation or replacement. KDOT took several approaches for determining how best to integrate Pontis into the prioritization of bridge projects. The final approach selected for implementation uses health indexes that can be derived from Pontis element-level inspection analysis. The development of this approach and its impact on evaluating bridge priorities are discussed. The current bridge priority formula and the role of NBI ratings are described in the next section. Alternative approaches to integrating Pontis data or output into evaluation of bridge priorities are presented. Bridge priorities using alternative approaches are compared, and the factors in the choice of the approach for implementation are described. The final section contains a summary and conclusions.