%0 Journal Article
%T Public policy implications of harmonizing engineering technology with socio-economic modeling: Application to transportation infrastructure management
%J Transportation research part A: policy and practice
%D 2013
%A Andrijcic, E.
%A Haimes, Y. Y.
%A Beatley, T.
%V 50
%N 
%P 62-73
%X The persistent infrastructure underinvestment coupled with a significant growth in commercial and non-commercial transportation demand has rendered the US transportation infrastructure unprepared for current and future demands. A significant improvement in the condition of the US transportation infrastructure must be grounded on a more sustainable and proactive approach to address the existing gap between short-term commitments and long-term needs. This paper demonstrates in quantitative terms the value of long-term investments to overcome the historical impediments to infrastructure rehabilitation, including the need for a proactive political structure that compensates for the apparent lack of public accountability, and for the poor understanding of the socio-economic effects caused by transportation infrastructure failures. Such a process could avoid impending catastrophes. This paper presents a modeling paradigm that accounts for multiple stakeholder perspectives and relates the formulation of public policy to a long-term horizon through the modeling of the transportation infrastructure as a system of systems. The methodology enables involved stakeholders and decision makers to visualize their shared interests and to promote coordinated individual decisions in order to achieve a more acceptable level of the overall system of systems objectives. To illustrate the relevance of the proposed modeling approach, we apply it to a bridge maintenance problem and we discuss the synthesis of existing engineering practice with socio-economic factors that aids in streamlining long-term infrastructure goals with immediate short-term needs. The insights obtained from the proposed system of systems methodological approach point to the need to adopt a more forward-looking and collaborative public policy for infrastructure maintenance.<p />
%G en
%I Elsevier Publishing
%@ 0965-8564
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2013.01.027